China’s role in the May 7-10 Operation Sindoor came under serious scrutiny and criticism, especially the military assistance provided by Beijing to Islamabad.
After US President Donald Trump, China has claimed credit for mediating peace between India and Pakistan during the military conflict earlier this year, despite New Delhi’s pushback, which has repeatedly rejected any third-party mediation. Like Trump, the Chinese Foreign Minister also projected Beijing as a peace negotiator for other global conflicts, including tensions in northern Myanmar, between Cambodia and Thailand, and the Iranian nuclear issue.
“This year, local wars and cross-border conflicts flared up more often than at any time since the end of WWII. Geopolitical turbulence continued to spread… To build peace that lasts, we have taken an objective and just stance and focused on addressing both symptoms and root causes,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, speaking at the Symposium on the International Situation and China’s Foreign Relations in Beijing.
Wang Yi then claimed that “tensions between India and Pakistan” were among the list of hotspot issues “mediated” by China this year.
“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 claimed.
India’s Stand On Ceasefire
New Delhi has maintained that the military conflict between India and Pakistan, which started on May 7, was resolved through direct talks between the DGMOs (Director General of Military Operations) of the armies of the two countries.
At the May 13 press briefing, the Ministry of External Affairs had said, “Regarding ceasefire and what sort of role other countries played, etc. See, the specific date, time, and wording of the understanding were worked out between the DGMOs of the two countries at their phone call on 10th May 2025, commencing at 15:35 hours.”
India has also been consistently maintaining that there is no place for any third-party intervention in matters relating to India and Pakistan.
China’s Role in India-Pak Tensions
China’s role in the May 7-10 Operation Sindoor came under serious scrutiny and criticism, especially the military assistance provided by Beijing to Islamabad.
On the diplomatic front, Beijing called on India and Pakistan on May 7, asking both nuclear-powered nations to exercise restraint even while expressing regret over India’s airstrikes.
“China finds India’s military operation early this morning regrettable,” said a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement, reacting to questions on India’s airstrikes and escalating tensions between India and Pakistan.
The statement, without naming Pakistan, claimed, “China opposes all forms of terrorism,” in an apparent reference to the Pahalgam terrorist attack and urged both sides to exercise restraint in the interest of peace.
But China’s active military support to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor has become a sharp reminder of the negative impact of Beijing and Islamabad’s close ties on their relations with New Delhi.
For its part, China, whose arms exports amount to over 81 per cent of Pakistan’s military hardware, sought to downplay India’s assertion that Beijing used the conflict as a “live lab,” declining to directly answer the charges made by Deputy Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Rahul R Singh.
Gen Singh said China’s strategy during Operation Sindoor was based on its ancient military strategy of “36 stratagems” and killing the adversary with a “borrowed knife” to buttress the point that Beijing extended all possible support to Pakistan to cause pain to India.
What China Said On India Ties
In his speech on China’s foreign policy initiatives, Wang Yi spoke of the good momentum of improvement of relations between India and China, as he mentioned Beijing’s invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit held in Tianjin in August this year.
“This year, we invited the leaders of India and North Korea to China. China-India relations showed good momentum, and the traditional friendship with the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) was cemented and further promoted,” he said, adding that the SCO summit was a resounding success.
The Foreign Minister claimed that China’s engagement with neighbouring countries entered a new stage of building a community with a shared future at a faster pace.
On US Tariffs
In apparent reference to US President Donald Trump unleashing unilateral tariffs against China and other countries, Wang Yi said, “This year, economic globalisation met serious setbacks. The tariff war dealt a blow to international trade rules and disrupted the global economic order. The choice between openness and isolation became imperative.”
He stressed the China-US relationship is one of the most consequential bilateral relationships in today’s world.
“The strategic choices of the two countries will shape the course of world history,” he said.
“On major issues of principle, we maintained firm and unequivocal positions. On issues concerning China’s core interests, we responded with strength and held our ground,” he said.
