DELHI’S REACTIVE APPROACH LAGS BEHIND PAK-CHINA DISINFORMATION WARFARE

AUS report reveals China weaponised the Sindoor conflict for global propaganda.

- ABHINANDAN MISHRA

A major new report submitted to the US Congress alleges that Beijing opportunistically leveraged the May 2025 India-Pakistan conflict to test and advertise the sophistication of its latest military hardware, turning the four-day confrontation into a real-time laboratory to advance its expanding defence industry goals.

The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) concluded that the hostilities—triggered by the Pahalgam massacre and followed by India’s Operation Sindoor—were used by China asa strategic opening. According to the USCC, this was the first instance where China’s modern systems, including the HQ-9 air defence system and J-10 fighter aircraft, were deployed in active combat conditions, serving asa “real-world field experiment.”

In tandem with this apparent combat testing, the USCC report details how Chinese intelligence-linked networks, working with Pakistan's propaganda ecosystem, ran a coordinated disinformation campaign.

‘The explicit aim was to damage the reputation of India’s Rafale fighters and promote China’s rival aircraft fighter in export markets.

According to the report, Chinese operatives used fake social media accounts to circulate Al-generated images and video-game clips as “debris” of Indian Rafales supposedly destroyed by Chinese-supplied Pakistani weapons. This campaign sought to “hinder” Rafale sales by flooding online spaces with fabricated visuals and misleading commentary. Chinese embassies later amplified the narrative, publicly celebrating the alleged “successes” of Chinese platforms in the clash as a sales pitch to prospective buyers.

This entire incident is a textbook example of grey-zone warfare, where peacetime influence tools were used to achieve military and commercial objectives without firing a shot.