[By Devansh Desai Mumbai Samachar Desk]
A report submitted to the US Congress claims that Pakistan had “the advantage” during its May confrontation with India, and that China exploited the conflict to “test and promote its weapons.”
India, however, had maintained throughout the four-day engagement that it successfully destroyed multiple “terror infrastructure” sites inside Pakistani territory and achieved “success” in the military operation.
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) report, on pages 108 and 109, also alleges that China ran a “disinformation campaign” using fake social media accounts and AI-generated imagery to “discredit” French Rafale jets while “promoting” its own J-35 fighter aircraft.
The report states at one point that “Chinese weapons played a role in the Pakistani military’s success against India during the four-day conflict.”
Additionally, the report describes the April 22 attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, as an “insurgent attack.”
Following the report’s release, reactions have emerged across India. The opposition Congress party has called it a serious blow to India’s diplomacy, while the BJP has indirectly targeted the opposition.
What the Report Contains
The 745-page report includes a section on China’s strategic influence expansion in South and Central Asia. This section mentions high-level military meetings held to ease India-China tensions and highlights Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Tianjin for the SCO summit.
Within this section, the report claims China seized the opportunity to use Pakistan’s military crisis to test and promote its defense capabilities.
The report states: “The May 7-10, 2025 conflict between Pakistani and Indian forces drew global attention to China’s role, as Pakistan’s military relied on Chinese weapons and reportedly used Chinese intelligence.”
“The conflict began with India’s response to a deadly insurgent attack in a disputed area of Jammu and Kashmir that killed 26 people. Both countries conducted strikes deeper into each other’s territory than at any time in 50 years. The Indian military alleged that China provided Pakistan with live intelligence on Indian military positions throughout the conflict and used the engagement as a testing ground for its military capabilities. Pakistan denied these allegations, while China neither confirmed nor denied its role.”
The US commission’s report notes that China expanded its military cooperation with Pakistan in 2025, deepening tensions with India on security matters.
The report states: “Pakistan’s military success in the four-day conflict against India showcased Chinese weapons. However, calling this conflict a ‘proxy war’ would overstate China’s provocative role. But China capitalized on the opportunity to test its weapons capabilities and promote them useful both for its ongoing border tensions with India and its growing defense industry ambitions.”
According to the report, as Pakistan’s largest defense supplier, 82 percent of Pakistan’s weapons between 2019 and 2023 came from China. The May clash marked the first combat use of advanced weapon systems like the HQ-9 air defense system, PL-15 air-to-air missiles, and J-10 fighter jets. The conflict gave China real-world testing conditions.
China reportedly offered Pakistan 40 J-35 fifth-generation fighter jets, KJ-500 aircraft, and ballistic missile defense systems in June. That same month, Pakistan announced a 20 percent increase in its 2025-26 defense budget.
The report also mentions that Chinese embassies in various countries praised their weapons’ success in the India-Pakistan conflict. It states: “The use of Chinese weapons to shoot down French Rafale fighter jets used by India was particularly highlighted as a major selling point.”
Pakistan claimed to have shot down six Indian Rafale jets during this conflict. India never confirmed Pakistan’s claim and provided no information about how many aircraft were damaged or which types were involved.
The report, citing French intelligence agencies, states that China launched a disinformation campaign to promote its J-35 aircraft and damage Rafale sales. This campaign spread fake social media accounts and AI-generated or video game images falsely presented as debris from Indian aircraft downed by Chinese weapons.
The report also claims Chinese embassy officials convinced Indonesia to halt its Rafale procurement process, giving China opportunities to sell its defense equipment to other regional countries.
Reactions in India
Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh has targeted PM Modi and the central NDA government over this report.
Citing some of the report’s claims, he:
“President Trump has claimed 60 times that he stopped Operation Sindoor. The Prime Minister has maintained complete silence on this matter.”
“Now this report from the US Congress’s US-China Economic and Security Commission has emerged, which is completely unacceptable for India. Will the Prime Minister and the Ministry of External Affairs object and register their protest? Our diplomacy has suffered another serious blow.”
Trinamool Congress MP Sagarika Ghose, quoting a news item on Jairam Ramesh’s statement, wrote:
“This is extremely shocking. How is an official US report calling the April Pahalgam terror attack an ‘insurgent attack’ and talking about Pakistan’s military success over India in the four-day Operation Sindoor? Why has the Modi government failed to provide evidence and diplomacy in India’s favor? The Modi government should answer this in Parliament.”
India named its military action against Pakistan “Operation Sindoor.”
However, BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya has indirectly attacked the opposition by referencing part of the report.
He wrote:
“The real question is who was enthusiastically advancing China’s narrative. Who kept demanding figures like how many aircraft were shot down, when the Indian Air Force had clearly stated that all its assets were safe and sharing operational information during conflict would endanger national security. The operators of the Chinese disinformation machine were external. But the megaphone within India? We all know who was operating it.”
Read Full The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) report here
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