'Weakened our negotiating position': Congress demands clarity on China's role in Operation Sindoor; calls relationship 'lopsided' | India News

NEW DELHI: Congress on Wednesday launched a broadside against the Centre and sought a clarification on China's role after Beijing claimed credit for mediation between India and Pakistan after tensions flared up between the two countries in May.Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, in a social media post on X, said that China's claim are concerning as it seems to "make a joke of India's national security".

"President Trump has long claimed that he personally intervened to halt Operation Sindoor on May 10, 2025. He has done so on 65 different occasions in various forums in at least seven different countries. The Prime Minister has never broken his silence on these claims made by his so-called good friend," the Congress leader said."Now the Chinese foreign minister makes a similar claim and says China also mediated. On July 4, 2025, the Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen Rahul Singh had publicly stated that during Operation Sindoor, India was actually confronting and combating China. Given that China was decisively aligned with Pakistan, Chinese claims of having mediated between India and Pakistan are concerning - not just because they directly contradict what the people of our country have been led to believe, but because they seem to make a joke of our national security itself," he added.

Jairam Ramesh further said that the statement must be understood in the context of India's relationship with China. The Congress leader claimed that New Delhi's re-engagement with Beijing has been on Chinese terms."This claim must also be understood in the context of our relationship with China. We have begun re-engagement with them - but unfortunately it has been on Chinese terms. The Prime Minister’s clean chit to China on June 19, 2020, has considerably weakened India’s negotiating position," the Congress leader said."Our trade deficit is at record highs and much of our exports are dependent on imports from China. Provocative actions by China in relation to Arunachal Pradesh continue unabated. Amidst such a lopsided and hostile relationship, the people of India need clarity on what role China played in the abrupt halt to Operation Sindoor," he added.This comes after Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, at the Symposium on the International Situation and China's Foreign Relations, said Beijing had played a mediating role in several global conflicts, including the one between India and Pakistan."To build peace that lasts, we have taken an objective and just stance, and focused on addressing both symptoms and root causes. 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.Wang's remarks come months after India and Pakistan were locked in a brief but intense military confrontation in May, triggered by a terror attack in the Pahalgam valley of Jammu and Kashmir on April 22, which took 26 innocent lives.India responded with Operation Sindoor, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.India has consistently dismissed claims of any third-party mediation, maintaining that the four-day confrontation was resolved through direct military-to-military communication.New Delhi has maintained that, inflicted by this heavy damage, Pakistan's Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) called the Indian DGMO and both sides agreed to stop all firing and military action on land and in the air and sea with effect from May 10.