Opinion | Beijing flexes its military might in South Asia and beyond

The scale and intensity of the four-day India-Pakistan conflict beginning on May 7 was marked by the battlefield debut of China’s advanced military technology. At the onset of the conflict, US Vice-President J.D. Vance stated that the situation was “fundamentally none of our business”. But, in a dramatic reversal, US President Donald Trump soon announced that his administration had brokered a “historic ceasefire” between India and Pakistan.

While India and Pakistan were still exchanging fire, the true victor was China, whose military technology transformed the conflict into a global moment of significance for its arms industry.

After much speculation about its military capacity, Chinese defence tech has arrived on the global stage. The Pakistan Air Force fielded Chinese J-10C fighter jets and JF-17 planes – jointly developed by China and Pakistan – armed with Chinese PL-15 beyond-visual-range missiles. India used its French fighters and Israeli Harop drones, a line-up many, until now, considered technologically superior.

Reports suggest that at least one French-made Rafale was downed by a missile shot from a Chinese-made J-10. The BBC authenticated images of the wreckage. The possibility of a French Rafale being downed by a Chinese J-10 sent shock waves through the Western military hardware industry. Even financial markets responded to the performance of Chinese military weapons as shares of AVIC Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, the state-owned manufacturer of the JF-17 and J-10C, soared by 36 per cent within two days.

The extent of coordination between China and Pakistan has set alarm bells ringing for both India and its Western partners, including the US which had earlier provided Pakistan with F-16 fighter jets. Anonymous US officials cited by Reuters claim F-16s were not used in the conflict, despite reports to the contrary. However, what is likely even more unsettling for the US is the implication that the conflict may have served as a proxy testing ground for China’s military capabilities, especially in the event of a future confrontation over Taiwan.