'There's no role for a third party': India dismisses China's claim of mediating Pakistan ceasefire

India on Wednesday firmly rejected China’s assertion that it had played a mediating role between New Delhi and Islamabad during the military confrontation earlier this year, reiterating that no third party was involved in the ceasefire decision.

New Delhi has consistently maintained that the May 10 ceasefire with Pakistan, which followed Operation Sindoor, was reached through direct communication between the Director General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two countries.

“We have already refuted such claims. On bilateral issues between India and Pakistan, there is no role for a third party. Our position has been clarified on several occasions in the past that the India-Pakistan ceasefire was agreed to directly between the DGMOs of the two countries,” a source told India Today.

India’s response came a day after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi claimed that Beijing had mediated several international conflicts, including the tensions between India and Pakistan in May.

“This year, local wars and cross-border conflicts flared up more often than at any time since the end of WWII,” Wang Yi said. He added that in an effort to “build peace that lasts”, China had adopted an objective and neutral approach while addressing both immediate issues and their underlying 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,” the Chinese foreign minister said.