BEIJUNG: China has officially confirmed for the first time that it played a mediating role in easing tensions between Pakistan and India during their military confrontation in May this year.
Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that the Pakistan–India crisis was among several regional conflicts in which China actively sought to defuse tensions. He revealed that Beijing played an important role in preventing the situation from escalating further when hostilities between the two nuclear-armed neighbors reached a critical level.
According to Wang Yi, China’s mediation efforts were not limited to South Asia. He said Beijing has also been involved in facilitating dialogue in other major conflicts, including those in northern Myanmar, the Iranian nuclear issue, the Palestine–Israel conflict, and the recent Cambodia–Thailand tensions.
The confirmation comes months after Pakistan indicated—without naming any country—that a “major power” had conveyed messages to India following Pakistan’s retaliatory missile strikes on Indian military installations, including air bases, on May 10. Pakistan had warned at the time that any further Indian response would be met with severe consequences.
India remained largely silent after Pakistan’s early-morning strikes on May 10. Later that evening, former US President Donald Trump announced from Washington that a ceasefire between Pakistan and India had been reached through American mediation.
India, however, has consistently maintained that the ceasefire resulted solely from direct communication between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of both countries and has denied any third-party mediation. Until now, only Donald Trump had publicly claimed credit for mediating the ceasefire.
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