Beijing, May 7: China on Wednesday called on India and Pakistan to exercise maximum restraint in the “larger interest of peace and stability” of the region and said it will play a “constructive role” in easing the tensions by working with the international community.
“We are concerned about the ongoing situation,” China’s Foreign Ministry said after Indian armed forces early Wednesday carried out missile strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack.
“India and Pakistan are and will always be each other’s neighbours. They are both China’s neighbours as well,” it said.
“China opposes all forms of terrorism,” it said, in an apparent reference to the Pahalgam terrorist attack that killed 26 people.
“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,” the statement said.
“China finds India’s military operation early this morning regrettable,” it added.
Elaborating Beijing’s stand, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian later said China “stands ready to work with the international community to continue to play a constructive role in easing the current tensions”.
Asked about India’s assertion that it targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and PoK, Lin said, “we also noted that both India and Pakistan have said that they don’t hope to see escalation of the situation”.
“We hope that India and Pakistan will remain calm, exercise restraint, work in the same direction and properly handle differences through dialogue and consultation,” he said. “China will continue to play a constructive role in easing the current tensions.”
Since the Pahalgam terrorist attack, China, Pakistan’s iron-clad ally, while condemning it, called for restraint, besides a fair and swift investigation into the attack.
China’s statement on Wednesday and the comments by Lin made no reference to any probe into the Pahalgam attack.
Pakistan and China have stepped up diplomatic contacts during the past few days.
While Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar called China’s top diplomat Wang Yi over phone and briefed him on the situation on April 27, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari.
In his talks with Dar, Wang stated that China is closely following the developments. He said that combating terrorism is a shared responsibility of the whole world, and China supports an impartial investigation as soon as possible, as the conflict does not serve the fundamental interests of either India or Pakistan, nor does it contribute to regional peace and stability.
As an ironclad friend and an all-weather strategic cooperative partner, China fully understands Pakistan’s legitimate security concerns and supports Pakistan in safeguarding its sovereignty and security interests, Wang said.
India’s strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan came as Chinese President Xi Jinping was due to leave for Russia on a four-day visit on Wednesday to take part in the celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Soviet Union in World War II.
Xi is also due to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom he shares a close personal friendship. (PTI)
