The operation of India, Sindoor, pursues both Pakistan and China, the first because of the non-explanation for sponsoring cross-border terrorism and the enormous physical loss of military assets and face, and the latter because of the utmost failure of his military equipment that is sold to Pakistan and the diplomatic consequences of the support of the support of the IJ IJsen.
Diplomatically, after the terrorist attacks of Pahalgam, China expressed his concern and called to restraint of India's side, while repeated the support for Pakistan both regionally and in the #1267 al-Qaeda Sanctions committee of the United Nations. The Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, discussed issues with his Pakistan opposite, Ishaq Dar, and India's national security adviser, Ajit Doval, without concrete proposals in hand.
Diplomatic shame
Ironically, Chinese bloggers criticized India for 'escalation' and called his actions 'destabilization', even while giving up the drone strikes of Pakistan on Indian boundaries. Many even said that Pakistan was not involved in cross -border terrorism attacks in India, despite substantial evidence in this regard. Beijing offered mediation between the two warring South Asian countries, but did not know that Pakistan preferred to approach the United States for a ceasefiring -the fire.
China's efforts to launder Terrorists and his diplomatic support for Islamabad in Pakistan have affected China's image as a responsible country. The myopic vision of supporting his “All -Weather” friend at the expense of everything is expected to cost its long -term strategic objectives.
However, it was in the military confrontation that the image of China took a dent. The majority of his military equipment – an estimated Pakistan to have cost more than $ 20 billion – missed their goals, missed their goals, did not stand, destroyed or fell like Duds in the War Theater.
The story of the J-10CS and JF-17s
For example, China sold his “powerful dragon” J-10 C fighter aircraft for $ 40 million per unit with 20 of 36 sold to Pakistan since 2022. For comparison, while each F-16 costs around $ 80 million, the Rafale costs more than $ 200 million per unit. Pakistan said it used his assets against the Indian Rafale, SU-30 MKI and the MIG-29 plane.
Despite claims from Pakistan – who were hyped by the Chinese bloggers – from shooting six Indian planes, no proof of wreck, pilot care or satellite images was provided by Pakistan or China. On the other hand, India supplied satellite certificate for its precision attacks at 11 airports in Pakistan. The Indian spokesperson also stated that all his pilots were safe and returned.
China has also delivered his JF -17 “Thunder” block III to Pakistan under a license production agreement. These 156 aircraft cost Pakistan almost the same as J-10C with around $ 35 million per unit, with similar rockets and radars.
Both J-10's and JF-17s are equipped with PL-15 Air air missiles that can reach a range of 150 to 200 km compared to Rafale's Meteorbraket range of approximately 150 km. Both aircraft are equipped with WS-10B TurboFan engines, but they are less efficient compared to Rafale's Snecma M88-2 engines. Again, compared to Indian planes, Chinese-supplied Pakistan aircraft have a lower load, shorter combat reach and low chances of survival. In fact, the Pakistan spokesperson even confirmed the loss of two JF-17s in the Indian retaliation attacks.
The rockets that missed
The PL-15 missiles also missed their goals or poorly. Several PL-15 missiles crashed without explosion in the Hoshiarpur and Bhatinda districts of Punjab.
Chinese bloggers criticized Pakistan's defense groups due to lack of professionalism and because they are insufficiently trained to use the equipment supplied by Chinese. Some reminded them of their inability to integrate advanced air defense equipment, their lack of good coordination with Chinese soldiers and their failure to act in real time.
The air defense systems that have failed
China had also sold the HQ-9P air defense system to Pakistan in 2021, with a complete battery, including 192 missiles, 12 targeting and search radars, 48 launch and command vehicles and other equipment, which cost no less than $ 600 million. These would protect Lahore and Sialkot. Neither the HQ-9P Air Defense System nor the Chinese ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) equipment was able to detect incoming Indian missiles.
In 2018, China supplied 48 armed drones from Wing Loong II to Pakistan and the latter cost around $ 3 to 5 million per unit. Many of these were destroyed by Indian Jaguar attacks on the Sukkur air base.
A missed opportunity
This was the first time since the disastrous war in Vietnam in 1979, when thousands of Chinese people were killed by the Vietnamese, that China had the opportunity to show the bravery of his military equipment. The army regularly participated in the current mobilization of Taiwan Straits, but was missing a real combat environment. The driven and precision-based operation Sindoor turned out to be a humid Squib for the Chinese army.
Financially, China could expect some setbacks as a result of the conflict between India-Pakistan. With fear, opting for Islamabad or New Delhi for trade and market economy – the most important thing, in the light of the devastating rates of Trump. Although an agreement was reached in Geneva between the United States and China on 11 May to considerably reduce the rates, this deal is temporarily in nature.
Lost trust
More importantly, China considered the conflict between India-Pakistan to be an arena to sell his military equipment. The poor performance in Pakistan, however, shook his arms bazaar. After the announcement of Pakistan's ceasefire, for example, China's Aviation Industrial Corporation (AVIC) Chengdu and Zhuzhou Hongda (who produce PL-15 missiles) saw their share performance with 9%tumbling, of a first win in the early stages of the conflict. The poor performance of Chinese military equipment in Pakistan undermined business trust and resulted in a slide in the shares.
On the other hand, the Mumbai Stock Exchange recovered by more than 3.5% (with nearly $ 200 billion in market capitalization) after the Stakes -Fire Agreement was announced. The demand for the export of Indian weapons is also increasing, especially for Brahmos and Akash.
So, diplomatic, military and financial, the intervention of China in the conflict between India-Pakistan has proved rather expensive.
(Srikanth Kondapalli is a professor in Chinese studies on Jawaharlal Nehru University)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
