After Trump, China claims mediation in India-Pak tensions, people in New Delhi react
After Trump, China claims mediation in India-Pak tensions, people in New Delhi react to ‘bizarre’ remark
M.U.H
31/12/202531
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on Tuesday claimed that tensions between India and Pakistan were among the list of issues “mediated” by Beijing this year. However, this claim has been described as “bizarre” by people familiar with the matter who said that China played no role in the ceasefire.
India and Pakistan were involved in an intense military standoff in May after a terror attack in the Pahalgam valley of Jammu and Kashmir on April 22 killed 26 civilians. India retaliated through Operation Sindoor, which targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
China's foreign minister made the claim while speaking at the “Symposium on the International Situation and China’s Foreign Relations” in Beijing.
“This year, local wars and cross-border conflicts flared up more often than at any time since the end of World War II. Geopolitical turbulence continued to spread,” Wang Yi said at the symposium.
“Following this Chinese approach to settling hotspot issues, we mediated in northern Myanmar, the Iranian nuclear issue, the tensions between Pakistan and India, the issues between Palestine and Israel, and the recent conflict between Cambodia and Thailand,” he added.
China’s involvement during the India-Pakistan tensions in May had come under focus, after several reports claimed that Beijing provided Islamabad real-time surveillance inputs and other forms of support during the confrontation, as mentioned in an earlier HT report.
Notably, China’s arms exports amount to more than 81% of Pakistan’s military hardware. Indian officials have said China used the conflict in May to prove the capabilities of its weapon systems, it added.
How Indian officials reacted to China’s claim
While there is no official reaction from India to Wang Yi's remark yet, people in New Delhi aware of the developments said China had no part in bringing the tensions between India and Pakistan to an end in May.
“The claim by the Chinese side is bizarre,” one of the people told HT.
The people said discussions held only between senior military officials from India and Pakistan led to the agreement to stop military action on May 10. They added that New Delhi has consistently said there is no room for third-party involvement in matters concerning India and Pakistan.
“Perhaps the Chinese side is following in the footsteps of the US,” a second person said, pointing to US President Donald Trump’s repeated statements about mediating a truce between India and Pakistan. India has also dismissed Trump’s claim.
