Donald Trump ruffles feathers with offer to help ties between India and China

Government rejects Trump's offer to mediate India-China tensions, emphasizing bilateral approach; China and Pakistan criticize U.S. military transfers to India.

The government rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s offer to “help” in ending India-China border tensions, which echoed his previous offer to mediate after the Galwan clashes in 2020. The comments were made by Mr. Trump during his joint press conference on Thursday (February 13, 2025) in Washington with Prime Minister Narendra Modi by his side.

While Prime Minister Modi didn’t react to the offer, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri made it clear, in a briefing later, that the issues are being handled bilaterally, even as China responded sharply to Mr. Trump’s comments on the Indo-Pacific.

“Whatever issues we have with any of our neighbours, we have always adopted a bilateral approach to dealing with these issues,” Mr. Misri told journalists at the end of Mr. Modi’s 24-hour U.S. visit. “It is no different between India and China. We have been discussing any issues we have with them on a bilateral plane, and we will continue to do so,” Mr. Misri added, referring to recent talks and the resumption of bilateral dialogue mechanisms, including his own visit to Beijing in January.

Addressing a joint press conference, Mr. Trump side-stepped a specific question about India’s role in resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict, instead saying that China could have a role.

“I think that China is a very important player in the world. I think they can help us get this war over with Ukraine and Russia, and I look at India, I do see the skirmishes on the border, which are quite vicious, and I guess they continue to go on,” Mr. Trump said.

The Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army of China have not at present spoken of any clashes, especially after they had announced a détente resolving the last part of the stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in October 2024.

“If I could be of help, I’d love to help, because that should be stopped. That’s been going on for a long time, and it’s quite violent. It’s quite violent, but I would hope that China and India and Russia and us and all of us can get along,” Mr. Trump continued. When asked the same question, Mr. Modi repeated his 2022 formulation to Russian President Vladimir Putin that “this is not the era of war”, and said that India was “not neutral, but on the side of peace”.