India rejects China’s mediation claim, reiterates Pakistan truce was strictly bilateral

India has firmly rejected China’s claim that it played a mediating role in ending the military confrontation between New Delhi and Islamabad earlier this year, reiterating that the May 10 ceasefire was the outcome of direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two countries, with no third-party involvement.

Official sources said India’s position has been consistent and unambiguous. “On bilateral issues between India and Pakistan, there is no role for a third party. The India-Pakistan ceasefire was agreed to directly between the DGMOs of the two countries,” a source was quoted as saying by India Today, adding that such claims had already been refuted earlier.

The rebuttal comes after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi claimed that Beijing had mediated several global conflicts, including the India-Pakistan standoff in May. Speaking at an event on Tuesday, Wang said global conflicts had surged to their highest levels since World War II and asserted that China had adopted an “objective and neutral” approach to building lasting peace.

“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,” Wang said.

China joins the credit war

China is the latest, after US President Donald Trump, to publicly claim credit for halting the India-Pakistan military escalation. Trump has repeatedly asserted at global forums, press conferences, and bilateral meetings that Washington intervened to stop the conflict.

New Delhi, however, has consistently rejected all such assertions.

China’s claim has also drawn scrutiny given its overt backing of Pakistan during the three-day hostilities and allegations that it provided military assistance. During the conflict, India carried out precision strikes on 11 military bases deep inside Pakistan, while Chinese-supplied air defence systems reportedly failed to counter the attacks.

The issue gained further traction after senior Army officer Lieutenant General Rahul R Singh said China treated the confrontation as a “live lab”, providing real-time support to Pakistan.

“Pakistan was at the front. China was providing all possible support. In the last five years, 81% of the military hardware Pakistan has received is Chinese. China is able to test its weapons against other weapons — it’s like a live lab available to them,” he said at an event in Delhi.

India and Pakistan were locked in a brief but intense military confrontation in May, triggered by the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians. India responded with Operation Sindoor, destroying nine terror camps in Pakistan, before the two sides agreed to a ceasefire through direct military-level communication.