New Delhi: China called India’s Operation Sindoor “regrettable” and urged New Delhi and Islamabad to “exercise restraint” in a statement Wednesday morning. India carried out precision strikes at nine sites within Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in the early hours of Wednesday.
“China finds India’s military operation early this morning regrettable. We are concerned about the ongoing situation. India and Pakistan are and will always be each other’s neighbors. They’re both China’s neighbors as well,” a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry said.
The statement added: “China opposes all forms of terrorism. We urge both sides to act in the larger interest of peace and stability, remain calm, exercise restraint and refrain from taking actions that may further complicate the situation.”
Beijing is the second permanent-five member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to react to Operation Sindoor following comments from US President Donald Trump.
China has maintained long-standing economic and strategic ties with Pakistan, with the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) having a number of Chinese made fighter jets including the JF-17. It has also long been one of the biggest economic partners to Pakistan, with large-scale investments in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and in the port of Gwadar.
In recent months, ties between India and China have begun to thaw, following the roughly four years of tension following the clashes at Galwan valley between the two militaries in the summer of 2020. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in October 2024 on the margins of the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan, following the agreement on disengagement at the friction points across the Line of Actual Control.
India last month announced the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, which is set to begin next month, while direct flight access, one of Beijing’s demands, is set to resume soon.
In the early hours of Wednesday, the Indian Armed Forces launched strikes against nine sites, including Pakistan Punjab’s Bahawalpur, and other areas within PoK in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
Armed terrorists sprayed bullets at tourists near Pahalgam, which left at least 26 people dead including 25 Indians and one foreign national on 22 April. A day later, India announced cross-border linkages to the attack and imposed a raft of punitive measures against Pakistan including holding the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 in abeyance. India also reduced the strength of Islamabad’s mission to New Delhi to 30 from 55, while expelling three defence advisers and annulling the position.
On 24 April, Pakistan announced its own measures including that it “shall exercise” the right to hold all bilateral agreements in abeyance including the Simla Agreement of 1972. Pakistan in recent days has also conducted missile tests. It has vowed retaliation to Operation Sindoor.
India’s Ministry of Defence called the precision strikes “focused, measured and non-escalatory in nature.” National Security Adviser Ajit Doval has briefed his American counterpart Marco Rubio on the strikes.
Senior Indian officials have also briefed their counterparts in the UK, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Russia, according to sources.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
Also read: ‘No place to hide,’ says Israeli Ambassador, supports India’s right to self defence on op Sindoor