Congress targets Jaishankar over China visit, questions government’s silence on key bilateral concerns

Rahul Gandhi calls EAM’s diplomacy a “full-blown circus”; Ramesh and Shrinate raise issues of Chinese support to Pakistan and economic dependencies

The Congress on Tuesday targeted External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar’s visit to China, with senior party leader Rahul Gandhi alleging that the Minister was “running a full-blown circus aimed at destroying India’s foreign policy.”

“I guess the Chinese Foreign Minister will come and apprise Mr. Modi about recent developments in China-India ties. The External Affairs Minister is now running a full-blown circus aimed at destroying India’s foreign policy,” Mr. Gandhi posted on X, tagging a media report that stated Mr. Jaishankar met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing and apprised him of latest developments in bilateral relations.

Earlier, Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, issued a statement questioning Mr. Jaishankar’s assertion during his meeting with China’s Vice President Han Zheng on July 14.

Noting that the External Affairs Minister stated that the India-China bilateral relationship “has been steadily improving since the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in Kazan last October” and that “continued normalisation of our ties can produce mutually beneficial outcomes,” Mr. Ramesh said the Minister must take into account China’s recent posturing towards India.

He emphasised the need to build a national consensus on the strategic and economic implications of China’s rise as the world’s foremost manufacturing power and its position as the second-largest economy.

“Perhaps we should remind the EAM of recent developments in bilateral ties since the PM’s last tête-à-tête with President Xi: China gave total support to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, turning it into a testing ground for network-centric warfare and weapon systems such as the J-10C fighter and PL-15E air-to-air missile and assorted drones,” Mr. Ramesh said in the statement.

He also referred to a recent remark by Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Rahul R. Singh that India was up against “three adversaries” during Operation Sindoor, and that China had provided Pakistan with “live inputs,” or real-time intelligence on Indian military operations. He added that Pakistan was expected to acquire Chinese J-35 stealth fighters soon.

Mr. Ramesh further said that China had curtailed exports of essential materials to India, including rare-earth magnets, speciality fertilisers, and tunnel-boring machines, all critical for infrastructure development.

He pointed out that sectors such as telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, and electronics remain significantly dependent on Chinese imports, and that the exit of Chinese workers from India’s Foxconn facilities could hinder India’s ambition to become a global alternative for Apple smartphone manufacturing.

“When are the External Affairs Minister and his boss, the Prime Minister, going to take the people of India into confidence and hold a detailed debate on China in Parliament — as the Indian National Congress has been calling for since 2020?” he asked. “The INC hopes that the Prime Minister will finally agree to such a discussion and break the five-year drought in the forthcoming Monsoon session of Parliament.”

In a separate press conference, Congress social media head Supriya Shrinate questioned the government’s priorities, saying that while the EAM engaged with China — a country that “openly backed Pakistan during Operation Sindoor” — no arrests had yet been made in connection with the recent Pahalgam terror attack.