As the controversy generated by the reference in last week’s Sino-US joint statement to China’s role in the subcontinent looms large over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s state visit to Washington, New Delhi is drawing satisfaction from a subsequent clarification from Beijing that it has no intention to mediate between India and Pakistan.

Highly placed sources disclosed that after the uproar caused by the joint statement, China had got in touch with India to put the record straight. It informed New Delhi that there was no change in Beijing’s stated position on Indo-Pak relations and it continues to hold that it was for the two countries to resolve their differences bilaterally. In fact, it went as far as to say it respects India’s position on the sensitive issue.

Although India had reacted sharply to the Sino-US joint statement, stating unequivocally that it did not favour any third party mediation in the resolution of outstanding issues with Islamabad, New Delhi is now trying to play it down as it does not want this controversy to mar Prime Minister Singh’s November 24 meeting with President Barrack Obama although it is bound to figure in their deliberations.

The joint statement is not merely about China mediating between India and Pakistan but it is also about how Washington looks at China to play a lead role in this region. New Delhi is clearly not happy with this formulation and has made it clear that just as it is not interested in becoming a “guardian” of any country, it will also not accept the “guardianship” of any country.

While China may prove to be a ticklish issue, New Delhi is quite pleased that its ongoing cooperation with Washington into the investigations of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks is very much on track. Moving forward on the case involving American terror suspect David Headley, US investigators have now promised to provide more authentic information about his involvement with the Mumbai attacks within the next week.

Sources said this includes the name of a key Pakistani operative who played an important role in the Mumbai carnage. The cooperation between the two countries will be institutionalised when they unveil a joint counter terrorism initiative during PM Singh’s four-day visit to Washington. As part of this agreement, the US will provide India sensitive technology which includes equipment which will help track the location of cell phones used by terror groups.

Since the troubled situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan are slated to figure prominently in the Singh-Obama talks, National Security Adviser MK Narayanan’s meeting with CIA director Leon Panetta this morning in New Delhi acquires significance. Panetta, who has just returned from Islamabad and Kabul, is learnt to have admitted that he was not confident about Pakistan’s commitment to fight “all kinds of terrorism”, a clear reference to its involvement in fomenting trouble in India. New Delhi has been pushing Washington to lean on Pakistan to dismantle the terror infrastructure in its territory which is used to launch attacks against India.