Key points
- Pakistan has shot down five Indian fighters, including French-made Rafale aircraft: Bloomberg
- China’s military capabilities is coming to maturity
- Recent developments could bolster China’s sales pitch
ISLAMABAD: The recent conflict between India and Pakistan is prompting a reassessment of Chinese weapons, challenging long-held perceptions of their inferiority to Western arms, according to a report published by US media publication, Bloomberg.
Pakistan hailed the use of its Chinese J-10Cs to shoot down five Indian fighters, including French-made Rafale aircraft, last week in response to Indian aggression, the report said.
After four days of clashes that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of a full-blown war, both sides agreed to a ceasefire that US President Donald Trump said Washington helped mediate.
Pakistan’s army said it targeted several Indian sites in its retaliatory strikes during the conflict, which India admitted.
AFP, a French international news agency reported that in the aftermath of Saturday’s ceasefire, attention has focused on Pakistan’s new range of Chinese weapons and defence systems that finally saw combat during the May 7-10 India-Pakistan conflict. It came as India’s newly acquired arsenal of mostly Western arms took on China’s increasingly sophisticated military hardware.
Big victory for China
AFP cited Pakistan Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar as saying, “Our jet fighters … shot down three Indian Rafales, three Rafales [that] are French.”
Ours were J-10Cs,” he noted. Washington Post verified images from the downing site showed the debris was “consistent with at least two French-made fighter jets flown by the Indian air force – a Rafale and a Mirage 2000″.
India’s aggression raised international alarm bells on the second day of clashes, when it hit the Nur Khan air base in Rawalpindi, AFP reported. However, another surprise was Pakistan’s robust response to the Indian aggression.
AFP reported that Pakistan’s statement that its J-10 fighter jets brought down India’s French-made Rafales sparked happiness on Chinese social media platform, Weibo.
AFP cited Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Washington DC-based Stimson Center as saying, “The Indian weapons system is not as effective as a lot of people thought they would be”.
AFP cited Carlotta Rinaudo, a China expert at the International Team for the Study of Security Verona as saying “And this was a big victory for China in terms of perception”. Rinaudo said, “The lesson that we should all take out of this is that perhaps Chinese weapons are not inferior to Western weapons”.
Bloomberg cited Sushant Singh, a former colonel in the Indian Army and now a lecturer at Yale University as saying, “What seems to be emerging from the limited conflict is China’s military capabilities coming to maturity”.
“Potential buyers”
The latest developments could bolster Beijing’s sales pitch as major economies from Europe to Asia heed President Donald Trump’s call to ramp up defense spending, according to Bloomberg.
“There is a good chance the weapons systems China is able to offer will be even more appealing to potential buyers” especially in the Global South, Bloomberg cited James Char, assistant professor of the China Program at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies as saying, noting the J-10C is not even China’s most advanced jet.
