A new report submitted to U.S. Congress says Pakistan’s “military success” against India in May displayed Chinese weaponry while Beijing “opportunistically” used the conflict to advertise the sophistication of its weapons.
“Pakistan’s military success over India in its four-day clash showcased Chinese weaponry,” the 2025 report of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission submitted this month, says.
The Commission’s report refers to the 88-hour clash in May, when Pakistan and India engaged in one of the biggest aerial dogfights in the history with Pakistani forces shooting down several Indian jets including French Rafale aircraft.
Trump says India, Pakistan have agreed to ‘immediate’ ceasefire
India launched strikes into Pakistani cities and parts of the Pakistani-administered Jammu and Kashmir territory, calling the strikes a part of the Operation Sindhoor that targeted what it called “terrorist sites.”
The tensions between the two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors spiraled after an April 22 terror attack in Indian-administered part of Kashmir – a UN-recognized disputed territory in the Himalayan mountainous region. India blamed Pakistan-based militants for the attack. Islamabad sought proof, which India never provided and sent planes to fire missiles into Pakistan on May 7 evening.
On May 10, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between the two countries, crediting American intervention.
Since then, Trump has said seven new warplanes were downed in the conflict, and that by stopping the war Washington was able to avert a possible nuclear catastrophe. During the conflict, Pakistan claimed it had shot down five planes including Rafales. Later, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan downed seven planes. Months after the conflict, New Delhi claimed it had also destroyed Pakistani fighter jets but provided no evidence.
Trump says 7 brand new jets were downed in India-Pakistan conflict
The report to U.S. Congress, which refers several media reports and analyses, also notes the context of the deadly conflict, noting that “during the clash, triggered by India’s response to a deadly insurgent attack that killed 26 civilians in its contested Jammu and Kashmir region, both countries attacked targets farther into one another’s territories than at any time in 50 years.”
“While characterization of this conflict as a “proxy war” may overstate China’s role as an instigator, Beijing opportunistically leveraged the conflict to test and advertise the sophistication of its weapons, useful in the contexts of its ongoing border tensions with India and its expanding defense industry goals,” the report notes.
Following the May 2025 India-Pakistan border crisis, the report says, “China initiated a disinformation campaign to hinder sales of French Rafale aircraft in favor of its own J-35s, using fake social media accounts to propagate AI images of supposed “debris” from the planes that China’s weaponry destroyed.”
According to the report, the Chinese “fighter jets and air-to-air missiles received their first combat use as Pakistani forces successfully flew Chinese-made fighters during a four-day conflict with India. This marks the first known instance of these systems being tested in actual combat, providing the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) valuable data and potentially boosting the credibility of China’s defense exports.”
China’s role in the May 7–10, 2025, clash between Pakistan’s and India’s militaries “drew global attention as Pakistan’s military relied upon Chinese weaponry and reportedly leveraged Chinese intelligence,” the report said.
“The Indian Army claimed China helped Pakistan with “live inputs” on Indian military positions throughout the crisis and effectively used the conflict as a testing ground for its own military capabilities; Pakistan denied these allegations, and China neither confirmed nor denied its degree of involvement.”
On Beijing’s use of the conflict to its benefit, the report notes that “in the weeks after the conflict, Chinese embassies 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.
“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.209 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,” it adds.
The report also provides a background to how China and Pakistan have increased their defense cooperation in recent years, noting that China accounted for approximately 82 percent of the country’s arms imports from 2019 to 2023.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s JF-17 Thunder jet, manufactured with Chinese technology and also employed during the May conflict, received attention at the Dubai Airshow 2025.
A Gulf News report said Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) Kamra is participating in this year’s event, presenting its aviation and aerospace portfolio, including the JF-17 program, indigenous avionics development, and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services. Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has deployed two JF-17 Block-III aircraft to the show.
According to organizers, the Airshow 2025 has brought together more than 1,500 exhibitors, 148,000 trade visitors, 490 delegations from 115 countries, and displays over 200 aircraft, making it the largest edition in the event’s history.
Muhammad Luqman is Associate Editor at Views News Now. He writes on wide-ranging issues including economy, South Asia, the Middle East, agriculture, economy and innovation. Luqman has worked some of the leading news organizations and won acclaim for his original and research-based works.
