India’s opposition Congress Party has accused External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar of undermining the country’s strategic interests after he met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on 15 July, the first visit to China by an Indian foreign minister in five years. Jaishankar, in the capital for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation foreign ministers’ meeting, told Xi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi that relations had “made good progress” over the past nine months and called for a far-seeing, constructive approach to outstanding issues, including the border standoff in eastern Ladakh. Congress leader and Lok Sabha opposition chief Rahul Gandhi dismissed the outreach as a “full-blown circus aimed at destroying India’s foreign policy”, arguing that Beijing’s support for Pakistan during last year’s Operation Sindoor and continuing trade restrictions showed India was conceding ground without reciprocal gains. A Congress statement amplified the charge, noting Deputy Army Chief Lt Gen Rahul R Singh’s claim that China provided real-time intelligence to Pakistan during the conflict and has since limited exports of rare-earth magnets, specialty fertilisers and tunnel-boring machines to India. The party demanded a parliamentary debate on China policy similar to discussions held during the 1962 war and criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for what it called a lack of transparency on the border situation. The government and ruling Bharatiya Janata Party rejected the allegations, pointing to previous Congress-era contacts with Beijing and insisting that Jaishankar’s meetings were part of normal diplomatic engagement aimed at stabilising a key relationship.