China says India cooperative partner, agrees with Putin on trilateral ties

New Delhi: Beijing and New Delhi are “cooperative” partners, not rivals, and they should look at their relationship in the “right strategic perspective” to find opportunities for mutual development, China’s foreign ministry has said. The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, told a media briefing in Beijing on Monday that the two Asian nations need to enhance their mutual trust and expand their cooperation, handling their differences well, and promote their ties.

Lin was responding to reporters’ questions on the Russian president’s comments on Thursday in the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, where Vladimir Putin said Moscow’s ties with both Beijing and New Delhi were close, and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and the prime minister, Narendra Modi, could address their differences.

Lin said the Sino-Indian relationship was “generally stable” and the two nations had “a smooth” communication channel. The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson’s remarks are to be read in the context of the Ladakh military conflict between the nations between April 2020 and October 2024, when their relationship had deteriorated to its nadir. The militaries of China and India had violently clashed in Galwan, one of the friction points along the line of actual control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, resulting in the deaths of a few dozen soldiers on both sides.

The Chinese spokesperson said the two nations should stick to the perception that they were cooperative partners and not competitors and rivals. Both nations are opportunities for each other’s development, and not threats, he said. “The two sides need to view and handle the bilateral relations from a strategic height and long-term perspective, enhance mutual trust and expand cooperation, properly handle differences, and promote sound and steady development of China-India relations,” he added.

The Chinese foreign ministry also reacted to India’s concerns over Beijing’s close ties with arch-rival Pakistan. Lin said China supported both India and Pakistan to “properly” handle their differences through dialogue and consultation to collaboratively keep the South Asian region peaceful and stable. India and Pakistan fought a four-day war in May 2025 after an Islamabad-supported terror group killed 26 civilians at Pahalgam in Jammu & Kashmir in April that year. China, according to reports, helped Pakistan during India’s Operation Sindoor by providing valuable satellite data on Indian military positions, an issue that New Delhi has frequently raised in the past year.

Regarding the trilateral relations among China, India, and Russia, Lin said the three nations, being emerging economies, maintained sound relations. This was not only in the interest of the respective nations, but also for world peace, security, and stability, he said. China, he added, was ready to maintain communication with both India and Russia on advancing their trilateral cooperation.