Mutual trust, respect and sensitivity basis of India-China relations: MEA

MEA reiterates that China's military support to Pakistan threatens mutual trust and respect as India presses Beijing and Turkiye to act on cross-border terrorism

In the context of China’s military support to Pakistan, especially during Operation Sindoor, India on Thursday said that Beijing is aware that mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual sensitivity remain the basis of India–China relations.

 

Following the India–Pakistan military clashes, which lasted from the early hours of 7 May to 5 pm on 10 May, the Indian military released evidence that showed the Pakistan military’s use of Chinese weapons, such as PL-15 missiles, in targeting Indian military installations. 

At the weekly briefing of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), when asked whether China’s military support to Pakistan would adversely impact India’s relations with China, spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal underlined the importance of “mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual sensitivity” for the bilateral relationship. He said National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval had spoken to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on 10 May and conveyed India’s resolute stance against cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan. 

 

On Turkiye’s military support to Pakistan, Jaiswal said that India expects “Turkiye to strongly urge Pakistan to end its support to cross-border terrorism and take credible and verifiable actions against the terror ecosystem it has harboured for decades”. “Relations are built on the basis of sensitivities to each other’s concerns,” he said.

 

On the Indus Waters Treaty, the MEA spokesperson said it will remain in “abeyance” until Islamabad “credibly and irrevocably” abjures support to cross-border terrorism, as “water and blood” cannot flow together.

 

In The Hague, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told Dutch broadcaster NOS in an interview that the India–Pakistan understanding on cessation of hostilities was reached following direct negotiations between the two sides. “We made one thing very clear to everybody who spoke to us, not just the US but to everybody, saying if the Pakistanis want to stop fighting, they need to tell us. We need to hear it from them. Their general has to call up our general and say this. And that is what happened,” said the EAM, who is currently on a three-nation visit to the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany.

 

One of India’s parliamentary delegations, currently visiting Japan, on Thursday called on Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, who emphasised that terrorism cannot be justified in any form and expressed Japan’s solidarity with India. The delegation later met Yoshihide Suga, former Prime Minister of Japan, now Vice President of the Liberal Democratic Party and Chairman of the Japan–India Association. The MPs also met Takashi Endo, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on National Security, Japan. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, who is also visiting Japan, met senior officials of Japan’s Foreign Ministry.

 

Another delegation from India, led by Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde, arrived in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and met with UAE Minister of Tolerance and Co-existence Sheikh Nahyan Mabarak Al Nahyan, who conveyed his deep condolences for the Pahalgam terrorist attacks.