(TibetanReview.net, Dec31’25) – An unnamed Indian official has dismissed as “bizarre” China’s foreign minister Wang Yi’s claim Dec 30 that his country “mediated” the ceasefire between India and Pakistan following New Delhi’s launch of “Operation Sindoor” which lasted from May 7 to 10 this year after the Pahalgam terrorist attack in Kashmir in April. US President Donald Trump has also repeatedly claimed credit for the ceasefire in his quest for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Wang made the claim while speaking at the “Symposium on the International Situation and China’s Foreign Relations” in Beijing. His claim, however, contradicted India’s assertion that the May 7-10 conflict with Pakistan was resolved through direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two countries.
Asserting that Beijing had focused on building peace that lasts, Wang has spoken about China’s approach to settling hotspot issues and said, “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.”
Earlier, China’s party mouthpiece for the global audience globaltimes.cn said Dec 29 that in late April and May, as tensions flared between Pakistan and India, Wang had phone call with India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, urging both sides to restraint.
“The claim by the Chinese side is bizarre,” hindustantimes.com Dec 31 quoted an official in New Delhi who was aware of the developments as saying while noting there has not been any fresh official reaction from India to Wang’s remark yet.
“India’s position on mediation has always been clear. There was no mediation that took place after Operation Sindoor. India has always maintained that there can be no third-party intervention. Pakistan requested India’s DGMO for a ceasefire,” ndtv.com Dec 31, likewise, quoted Indian official sources as saying.
The report pointed out that at its May 13 press briefing, India’s 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.”
It pointed out that, on the contrary, China had, in fact, “opportunistically” used the India-Pakistan conflict to “test and promote” its defence capabilities, citing a bipartisan US commission’s annual report released last month.
The report by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission said Beijing leveraged the four-day conflict to “test and advertise the sophistication of its weapons, useful in the contexts of its ongoing border tensions with India and its expanding defence industry goals”.
Thereport, which is based on committee hearings and research that includes publicly available information and media reports, also pointed out that in the weeks after the conflict, Chinese embassies praised the “successes” of its systems in the India-Pakistan clash, seeking to “bolster weapons sales”.
It was also widely reported at the time that during the conflict, China provided Pakistan satellite intelligence for hitting targets in India.
The ndtv.com report cited India’s Deputy Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Rahul R Singh, as having 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.