A bipartisan US commission has revealed that China “opportunistically” exploited the India-Pakistan conflict in May to “test and promote” its defense capabilities, essentially turning a military conflict into a weapons trade show. The report states that Beijing leveraged the four-day clash 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.”
But here’s where China’s plan collapsed entirely: “This clash was the first time 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 in active combat, serving as a real-world field experiment,” a report by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission confirmed.
Australia Exposes The Fraud: Chinese Systems “Failed To Stop Most Indian Missiles”
Adding fuel to the fire, Australia’s National Security College released an 87-page classified report titled “Air and Missile Warfare in the 2025 Subcontinental Conflict: Observations and Consequences” that exposes the catastrophic failure of Chinese technology. The report explicitly states that China’s YL-8E counter-stealth radar, HQ-16FE and HQ-9BE missile systems, marketed globally as “the most capable” air defense technology, failed to stop most Indian missiles during Operation Sindoor.
In simple terms, China sold Pakistan costly systems that failed when they were needed the most.
Desperate Beijing Ran Disinformation Campaign Against French Rafale
When Chinese weapons failed spectacularly, Beijing didn’t improve its technology; it launched a propaganda war instead. The US report revealed that China ran a disinformation campaign to discredit France’s Rafale fighter jet after witnessing its devastating performance against Pakistan.
“According to French intelligence, China initiated a disinformation campaign to hinder sales of French Rafales in favour 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,” the report stated.
China Still Trying To Sell Failed Weapons To Pakistan
Despite the humiliating battlefield failures, China reportedly offered to sell 40 J-35 fifth-generation fighter jets, KJ-500 aircraft, and ballistic missile defense systems to Pakistan in June.
In the weeks following the conflict, Chinese embassies shamelessly praised the “successes” of their systems in the India-Pakistan clash, seeking to “bolster weapons sales” based on fabricated claims. The US commission report, based on committee hearings and research, including publicly available information, systematically demolished these Chinese propaganda claims.
Beijing’s Predictable Denial
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning predictably called the US report “false,” because admitting the truth would destroy China’s entire defense export industry overnight.
The verdict is clear: Chinese weapons are expensive failures. India’s missiles and aircraft proved superior in real combat. And Beijing’s only response is denial and disinformation.
