Did China Help Pakistan Fight Against India? Examining Allegations of Chinese Military Support

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Video originally published on July 12, 2025.

When India and Pakistan engaged in four days of back-and-forth air assaults in May 2025, the world watched nervously as two nuclear-armed nations exchanged hostilities. But according to senior Indian military officials, Pakistan may not have been fighting alone. Allegations have emerged that China provided real-time intelligence and direct support to Pakistan during the conflict, raising fundamental questions about Beijing's role in South Asian security dynamics and what this means for the future balance of power in the region.

Key Takeaways

India's Deputy Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Rahul Singh, publicly accused China of providing real-time intelligence to Pakistan during the May 2025 conflict, including information about which Indian military assets were primed for action.

Pakistan allegedly demonstrated detailed knowledge of specific Indian military preparations during high-level de-escalation talks, suggesting access to intelligence beyond its own collection capabilities.

China and Pakistan have both denied these allegations, with both nations insisting that Pakistan operated based on its own intelligence capabilities.

The conflict showcased Chinese military hardware, particularly the J-10C fighter and PL-15 air-to-air missile, with Pakistan claiming to have shot down six Indian aircraft including French Rafale jets.

India has dramatically escalated its diplomatic confrontation with China in the weeks following the conflict, challenging Beijing on multiple fronts simultaneously including support for the Dalai Lama, rare earth metals, and Bangladesh relations.

China has been leveraging Pakistan's claimed air-to-air victories to lobby other nations against purchasing French fighter jets and to promote Chinese aircraft instead.

The May 2025 India-Pakistan Conflict

The exchange of hostilities that began on May 7, 2025, followed a terrorist attack on April 22 in the disputed region of Kashmir, where a terrorist organization killed twenty-six people, most of them Hindu civilians, in a resort town. India claimed that Pakistan was directly complicit in the attack and had supported the terror group responsible, allegations that Pakistan denied. Approximately two weeks later, India launched Operation Sindoor, a major military response that drew Pakistan into reciprocal exchanges of drones, missiles, and airstrikes.

The conflict featured what has been reported as a fairly large air battle, with both sides firing weapons at each other from long distance while remaining behind their respective territorial boundaries. Pakistan claimed to have shot down no fewer than six Indian aircraft, including modern combat jets. India, in turn, claimed to have destroyed the headquarters of terror groups in Kashmir, while both nations asserted they had successfully struck each other's bases and other military targets.

As is typical in modern warfare, both sides have been eager to claim victory while reluctant to acknowledge defeat, and neither has been willing to allow third-party fact-finders access unless the other does the same. The brief conflict ended without escalating into major war, and while both sides appear to have inflicted damage on the other, determining a clear winner and loser remains difficult. However, for the purposes of examining potential Chinese involvement, the question of who achieved tactical superiority is less relevant than what happened behind the scenes.

India's Direct Accusations Against China

The most direct and inflammatory allegations of Chinese involvement came from Lieutenant General Rahul Singh, the deputy chief of the Indian Army, speaking to representatives of India's defense industry at an event in late May. According to Singh, India was fighting against two adversaries during the recent crisis, not just one. Pakistan served as what Singh called the "front face," while China provided "all possible support" from behind the scenes.

Specifically, Singh explained that China had provided "live inputs" during the conflict, delivering real-time intelligence to Pakistan's forces about which Indian assets were deployed, their locations, and how close they were to being used in combat operations. Singh revealed that China's involvement became apparent during high-level talks between Indian and Pakistani military officials aimed at de-escalating the conflict. According to Singh, Pakistan demonstrated detailed knowledge of India's military preparations, stating "we know that your such and such important vector is primed and it is ready for action." This suggested that China was informing Pakistan about which of India's weapons were about to be deployed against it, and Pakistan was directly communicating this advance knowledge to Indian officials.

This wasn't the only allegation of Chinese involvement from Indian leadership. Ashok Kumar, the Director-General of India's Centre for Joint Warfare Studies, specifically claimed that China repositioned satellites in orbit to assist Pakistan in deploying air-defense radar to the correct positions for observing incoming military aircraft.

Both China and Pakistan have rejected these claims, with both nations insisting that Pakistan operated based on its own intelligence capabilities. Singh did not specify exactly how India determined that China was feeding intelligence to Pakistan rather than Pakistan collecting that information independently. The claims even contradict earlier statements by India suggesting that China had not helped directly and that Pakistan could have obtained commercially available satellite imagery to guide its military actions.

Nonetheless, the fact that such allegations are being made publicly by high-level Indian military leaders is significant in itself. Claims of military involvement in other nations' conflicts made against China directly are guaranteed to create major complications in the India-China relationship, and they represent the type of accusation that India typically avoids. Such allegations do not come from senior Indian military officials unless the nation is prepared for the diplomatic confrontation that will inevitably follow.

India's Dramatic Shift Toward Confrontation With China

The relationship between China and India has never been straightforward, but recent developments suggest increasingly troubled waters ahead. China positions itself as a potential next global superpower capable of standing opposite the United States and perhaps even eclipsing American influence on the world stage. However, India is a rising powerhouse in its own right, with a booming economy, growing relevance in global affairs, and the only population on the planet that can rival China's in sheer numbers. If India exists in China's geopolitical backyard, it functions less as a passive neighbor and more as a standoffish and highly competitive rival.

China and India only recently de-escalated a four-year-long dispute over their 3,500-kilometer border, but since India's conflict with Pakistan, New Delhi has been sending unmistakable signals that it is prepared to fight over a new set of issues. In just the span of two weeks following the conflict, India has accused China of directly supporting Pakistan militarily, promised to offer safe harbor and political backing to the exiled Dalai Lama, called out China's growing closeness to Bangladesh, and proposed a plan to challenge China's near-monopoly on rare earth metals. On the same day, and just after snubbing the annual gathering of the BRICS economic collective that it shares with India, Chinese leader Xi Jinping welcomed Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to Beijing.

Just weeks or years ago, India poking at China so rapidly and across so many different fronts simultaneously would have been unthinkable. India is growing rapidly, but it is not yet ready to challenge Beijing outright for dominance in Asia. With China appearing more focused on the United States, Russia, and international development efforts, India could have attempted to maintain relatively calm relations with its powerful neighbor. However, if India received direct evidence that China was backing its arch-rival Pakistan, that would fundamentally change the strategic calculus. If India believes that China has already chosen its side in South Asia's decades-long conflict, then it becomes logical for India to demonstrate its strength to China rather than its willingness to cooperate.

The China-Pakistan Strategic Partnership

When the question shifts from whether China directly supported Pakistan to whether China had a preferred outcome in the India-Pakistan conflict, the answer becomes clear and unequivocal: yes. China and Pakistan maintain a very close strategic and economic relationship, with China supplying a large portion of Pakistan's modern military equipment while simultaneously running large-scale industrial and resource-extraction projects on Pakistani soil. While these operations don't always proceed smoothly, China and Pakistan have repeatedly proven that their collaboration can withstand intermittent setbacks. When it comes to military engagements specifically, Pakistan's value to China is readily apparent.

In the most recent exchange of hostilities, the performance of Chinese fighter aircraft and air-to-air missiles took on significant international importance. Pakistan alleged that Chinese-built, advanced J-10C fighters were responsible for downing several copies of France's Rafale fighter jets in India's arsenal, using China's previously unproven PL-15 air-to-air missile. Pakistan's foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, openly admitted to his nation's parliament that he called the Chinese ambassador and his team to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry in the early morning hours to keep them apprised of real-time developments that supposedly made the Chinese delegation quite happy.

According to the Associated Press, China has been leveraging these purported air-to-air victories to aggressively lobby other nations against purchasing France's fighter jets and to instead place large orders for Chinese fighters. French intelligence officials speaking to the AP reported that China has been actively cultivating disinformation campaigns to damage the reputation of French jets while promoting China's own aircraft. As a retired senior colonel from the Chinese military told the BBC: "The aerial fight [above Pakistan] was a big advertisement for the Chinese weapons industry. Until now, China had no opportunity to test its platforms in a combat situation."

China's Strategic Incentives for Supporting Pakistan

For China, directly supporting Pakistan's military would deliver several benefits simultaneously. First, it would allow China to accomplish exactly what it claims to have achieved: battle-testing and proving the worthiness of some of its more advanced military hardware while avoiding direct conflicts that don't occur at a time or place of its own choosing. China is working to establish itself as a major arms exporter and overcome past reports of shoddy workmanship and poor product quality in some of its earlier fighter aircraft.

Second, supporting Pakistan would offer China the opportunity to better protect its own economic interests in the country and ensure that India couldn't interfere there in an effort to undermine Chinese projects. Perhaps most importantly, by directly supporting Pakistan's military capabilities, China could ensure that India remains entangled in a long-running hot-and-cold conflict against Pakistan for the foreseeable future, freeing China from ever having to worry about India as a direct rival. This dynamic has played out in various forms during great-power conflicts throughout history, such as when the Soviet Union funded and supported Cuba on America's doorstep during the Cold War.

A Pakistan with China backing it is far more capable than a Pakistan attempting to fight independently. Pakistan's capabilities in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) are believed to be relatively weak when it comes to gathering real-time, actionable intelligence, whereas China is believed to possess the ability to maintain surveillance over a large portion of the world simultaneously. China brings a similar advantage in information and cyber-warfare, where it is already known to offer certain technologies and capabilities for Pakistan's benefit.

China obviously supplies advanced warfighting equipment to Pakistan that Pakistan cannot produce domestically. Pakistan has demonstrated its willingness to use this equipment against a relatively modern peer adversary that China would prefer not to engage in direct warfare. This makes it far easier for China to oppose India through a willing and well-armed proxy than through a direct war that China clearly wishes to avoid. As for what China could have provided Pakistan during this most recent conflict, the most likely answers align precisely with what Lieutenant General Singh specified: warfighting equipment supplied ahead of time, and then the requisite intelligence to put that equipment to effective use.

The Verdict on Chinese Involvement

Did China really assist Pakistan directly in its conflict against India? To put it simply, the jury remains out. India says yes, China and Pakistan say no, and the rest of the world shrugs publicly while keeping any secretive intelligence findings private. However, it would certainly be in China's interest to ensure both a neutral-to-favorable outcome for Pakistan instead of a defeat, and an ideal set of circumstances for Chinese military equipment to be tested in combat conditions.

China's preference would clearly be to provide intelligence and hardware rather than contributing its own fighting forces or formally entering the conflict. Pakistan would undoubtedly be glad to accept all the assistance it could receive from its close ally. And if India were to know definitively that China had directly supported Pakistan in an armed conflict, then India would need to think very carefully about whether it was time to stop accommodating China and start pushing back. While publicly available information cannot confirm Chinese involvement with certainty, the circumstantial evidence and strategic logic point strongly in that direction.

Future Implications for Chinese Support

As for how China could lend its military support to Pakistan in the future, any direct involvement will likely broadly resemble what India claims happened during the May conflict. Beijing is known for being extremely militarily cautious on the world stage. It doesn't conduct invasions, it doesn't engage in armed interventions, and it doesn't fight proper wars against its adversaries if such conflicts can be avoided.

If China can ensure that Pakistan has the tools to fight its own battles against India while feeding it the requisite information to make its military efforts more efficient and effective, then China doesn't need to worry about a large-scale war with India in the near future. As long as Pakistan remains militarily potent, India and China are unlikely to engage in any military conflict larger than a border skirmish. This means that China can delay the chaos and consequences of war while amassing its capital and power in ways that Beijing prefers.

Long-Term Consequences for South Asian Security

For South Asia, this dynamic probably means that the India-Pakistan conflict will persist for at least several more decades. India has the economic power to sustain its own side of the conflict, plus a growing relationship with Western powers. It was Pakistan that appeared more likely to eventually fold, whether through economic pressure, regime change, or other factors. However, China possesses both the economic power to ensure that Pakistan can hold its own in the coming decades and clear incentives to ensure that India continues to regard Pakistan as an adversary.

The continuation of an India-Pakistan cold war doesn't preclude India from growing into the geopolitical major power it could become. However, it does impose a very meaningful set of constraints on India when it comes to how India will realize its potential. Its relationship with China could grow more competitive, more oppositional, and even outright hostile. But if China is going to be helping Pakistan in its battles against India, then any direct confrontation between India and China will likely be postponed indefinitely, allowing China to pursue its broader strategic objectives while keeping a potential rival occupied closer to home.

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FAQ

What specific allegations did India make about Chinese involvement in the May 2025 conflict?

Lieutenant General Rahul Singh, India's Deputy Chief of Army Staff, alleged that China provided 'live inputs' or real-time intelligence to Pakistan during the conflict, informing them about which Indian assets were deployed, their locations, and how close they were to being used in combat operations. India's Director-General of the Centre for Joint Warfare Studies also claimed China repositioned satellites to assist Pakistan in deploying air-defense radar.

How did India discover that China was allegedly helping Pakistan?

According to Lieutenant General Singh, China's involvement became apparent during high-level talks between Indian and Pakistani military officials aimed at de-escalating the conflict. Pakistan demonstrated detailed knowledge of India's military preparations, stating they knew which specific Indian vectors were primed and ready for action, suggesting intelligence beyond Pakistan's own collection capabilities.

What Chinese military equipment did Pakistan use in the conflict?

Pakistan used Chinese-built J-10C advanced fighter aircraft and China's previously unproven PL-15 air-to-air missile. Pakistan claimed these weapons were responsible for downing several French Rafale fighter jets in India's arsenal.

Have China and Pakistan responded to India's allegations?

Yes, both China and Pakistan have rejected India's claims, with both nations insisting that Pakistan operated based on its own intelligence capabilities during the conflict.

What was the May 2025 India-Pakistan conflict about?

The conflict began after a terrorist attack on April 22, 2025, in Kashmir killed twenty-six people, most of them Hindu civilians. India claimed Pakistan was directly complicit in supporting the terror group responsible. Approximately two weeks later, India launched Operation Sindoor, leading to four days of back-and-forth air assaults, drones, missiles, and airstrikes between the two nations.

Why would China want to support Pakistan against India?

China has several strategic incentives: battle-testing advanced military hardware without direct conflict involvement, protecting Chinese economic interests and projects in Pakistan, establishing itself as a major arms exporter, and most importantly, keeping India entangled in a regional conflict so India cannot emerge as a direct rival to Chinese power in Asia.

How has India's relationship with China changed after the conflict?

India has dramatically escalated its diplomatic confrontation with China. In just two weeks following the conflict, India accused China of military support to Pakistan, promised safe harbor to the exiled Dalai Lama, called out China's growing closeness to Bangladesh, and proposed challenging China's rare earth metals monopoly—a level of simultaneous confrontation that would have been unthinkable weeks or years earlier.

What is the nature of the China-Pakistan strategic partnership?

China and Pakistan maintain a very close strategic and economic relationship. China supplies a large portion of Pakistan's modern military equipment while simultaneously running large-scale industrial and resource-extraction projects on Pakistani soil. This collaboration has proven resilient despite intermittent setbacks.

Sources

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Jackson Reed

Jackson Reed creates and presents analysis focused on military doctrine, strategic competition, and conflict dynamics.

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