New Delhi: China opportunistically used Pakistan's military crisis to test and promote its own defence capabilities and also run a disinformation campaign against French-origin fighter aircraft Rafales to destroy their market, during the 88-hour-long Operation Sindoor, a military conflict between New Delhi and Islamabad, a report by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission stated.

Pakistan's use of Chinese weapons to down French #Rafale fighter jets used by India became a "particular selling point" for Chinese Embassy defense sales efforts despite the "fact that only three jets flown by India's military were reportedly downed: a US report. #OpSindoor... twitter/n0cC4PsU9x

- Anish Singh (@anishsingh21) November 19, 2025

The report, which has been submitted to the US Congress, mentioned that the Pakistan's military was completely relied upon Chinese weaponry and reportedly leveraged Chinese intelligence during May 7-10 military conflict.

As per the report, China's modern weapons systems, including the HQ-9 air defense system, PL-15 air-to-air missiles, and J-10 fighter aircraft were used for the first time during Operation Sindoor in active combat, serving as a real-world field experiment.

Over a month after the Operation Sindoor, China offered to sell 40 J-35 fifth-generation fighter jets, KJ-500 aircraft, and ballistic mis- sile defense systems to Pakistan.

In the same month - June 2025,“Pakistan announced a 20 percent increase in its 2025–2026 defence budget, raising planned expenditures to $9 billion despite an overall budget decrease,” the report mentioned.

As per the SIPRI data, "As Pakistan's largest defense supplier, China provided approximately 82 percent of the country's arms imports from 2019 to 2023."

China's disinformation campaign against Rafales

Just after the cessation of Operation Sindoor, Chinese embassies across the globe hailed the successes of its systems in the India-Pakistan clash, seeking to bolster weapons sales.

“Pakistan's use of Chinese weapons to down French Rafale fighter jets used by India also became a particular selling point for Chinese Embassy defense sales efforts despite the fact that only three jets flown by India's military were reportedly downed and all may not have been Rafales.”

The report said, according to French intelligence, China initiated a disinformation campaign to hinder sales of French Rafales in favor of its own J-35s, and it used fake social media accounts to propagate AI and video game images of supposed 'debris' from the planes China's weaponry destroyed.

In Jakarta, the Chinese Embassy officials convinced Indonesia to halt a purchase of Rafale jets already in process, furthering China's inroads into other regional actors' military procurements, the reports said.

India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 in response to a deadly terrorist attack that killed 26 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22.

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