NEW DELHI – China provided Pakistan with air defence and satellite support during its clash with India in May, according to a research group under India’s Ministry of Defence, suggesting that Beijing was more directly involved in the conflict than was previously disclosed.
China helped Pakistan reorganise its radar and air defence systems to more effectively detect India’s deployments of troops and weaponry, Dr Ashok Kumar, director-general at the New Delhi-based Centre For Joint Warfare Studies, said in an interview.
China also helped Pakistan adjust its satellite coverage over India during the 15-day interval between an April 22 massacre that killed 26 mostly Indian tourists and the start of hostilities between the two nations, he said.
“It helped them to redeploy their air defence radar so that any actions which we do from the aerial route is known to them,” Dr Kumar said at the group’s headquarters in New Delhi.
India’s government has not publicly detailed China’s involvement in the conflict. While Pakistan has said it used Chinese-supplied weapons, Dr Kumar’s assessment – if correct – indicates that China’s involvement went even further, offering logistical and intelligence support to Islamabad.
The Centre for Joint Warfare Studies describes itself as an autonomous think-tank focused on integration and transformation of India’s armed forces. Its advisory board includes Defence Minister Rajnath Singh as well as India’s top military commander and the heads of the army, air force and navy.
China’s Foreign Ministry and Defence Ministry did not respond to requests for comment placed over the weekend. Representatives for India’s Foreign Ministry, Defence Ministry, armed forces and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry and Information Ministry also did not respond to e-mailed queries on May 18.
The clash was the worst between the nuclear-armed neighbours in half a century, with both sides trading air, drone and missile strikes, as well as artillery and small arms fire along their shared border.
It was triggered by the bloodshed on April 22, which India has called an act of terrorism orchestrated by Pakistan. Leaders in Islamabad have denied involvement.
The conflict drew in world powers, with President Donald Trump taking credit for helping to mediate a ceasefire that started on May 10 – an assertion that generated anger in India, which said the truce was negotiated bilaterally.
On May 15, Pakistan’s deputy prime minister said the ceasefire would be extended to May 18, while the Indian Army has said it would continue to work on confidence-building measures with Pakistan.
Dr Kumar said China used the conflict as a testing ground for its weapons. The performance of the Chinese defence systems were below average and “failed miserably” in some instances, he said, citing an Indian military assessment. He did not provide specifics.
India’s defence systems reacted well to Pakistan’s use of hundreds of drones in the conflict, Dr Kumar said, adding that India’s integrated network of censors gave it an edge. He did not comment on China’s J-10C fighter or Pakistan’s claims that it downed Indian warplanes.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on May 16 said Pakistan shot down six Indian fighter jets, an assertion that has not been independently verified. India’s government has not commented on whether it lost aircraft in the fighting.
Chinese weapons like the J-10C fighter and the PL-15 air-to-air missile had never seen documented live fighting before, and their use has raised concerns among Beijing’s rivals across the region, including in Taiwan.
China’s government has not commented on the use of its equipment, and Pakistan has not presented evidence to back up its claims.
Dr Kumar said that India’s planning for conflicts with Pakistan now accounts for the probability that China will provide assistance to Islamabad. China may not intervene on behalf of Pakistan unless the situation is “critical”, but Pakistan will enter a conflict between India and China, he said.
‘Two-front situation’
“India now factors in a two-front situation in almost all its calculations,” Dr Kumar said. “Anything which is with China today can be deemed to be with Pakistan tomorrow.”
The longstanding strife between India and Pakistan centres on the disputed region of Kashmir, a mountainous swathe of territory that both countries claim in whole but control in part.
China has long been a backer of Pakistan dating back to the Cold War, and more recently has invested billions of dollars into the country via its Belt and Road infrastructure programme. In recent years, India has shifted more military resources to its disputed border with China, where a 2020 clash left 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese troops dead.
More recently, India and China had made strides toward normalising ties. BLOOMBERG
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