BEIJING: China on Monday refused to acknowledge the role played by the Indian Navy and joint efforts by the navies of both countries in the anti-piracy rescue operation in the Gulf of Aden The Chinese foreign ministry ignored the role played by Indian naval ships and claimed full credit for rescuing the cargo ship which was hijacked by Somali pirates.This is seen as a sign that China is still bristling about the visit of the Dalai Lama to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, which borders its Tibet region, despite repeated objections voiced by Chinese officials. Beijing is not prepared to send out signals of friendship by acknowledging that navies of the two countries worked together on a rescue operation, observers said.The Indian Navy had said that INS Mumbai, INS Tarkash, INS Trishul and INS Aditya, which had been been deployed to the Mediterranean, responded to a distress call from a Tuvalu-registered ship that was boarded by pirates. Indian Navy helicopters provided air cover while the Chinese vessel Yulin sent a stem of 18 personal to sanitize the ship."The vessel Yulin set off for the area immediately," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said referring to their Chinese convey ship which had responded to the distress call. "Under cover of helicopters, special forces members of the navy rescued the 18 members on board. We believe the aforementioned operation demonstrated the effectiveness of Chinese naval forces in fighting against piracy".The message was flashed by United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations (UKMTO) about the hijack of the Tuvaluan ship in the Gulf of Aden.Even the Chinese defence ministry earlier said that the country's PLA Navy conducted reconnaissance and rescued the vessel. It did not mention the Indian involvement in the rescue.In reply to a specific question about India's role, Hua said, "China is always open to international cooperation in combating pirates and ready for more cooperation in this regard"."The Chinese convoy," she added, "received reports from the UK MTO and conducted the rescue operation. As I just said, the Chinese side is positive towards international cooperation against piracy. This position is very clear”. She did not mention India again.