China ran disinformation campaign to hinder Rafale sales, push its J-35 Jets during Op Sindoor: US Commission report

NEW DELHI: China ran a disinformation campaign during Operation Sindoor using fake social media accounts to propagate AI images of supposed French Rafale aircraft “debris” in favour of its own J-35s, according to a US Commission report.

The latest report to Congress of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission alleged that China used AI images of supposed “debris” from the planes that China’s weaponry destroyed.

“Following the May 2025 India-Pakistan border crisis, China initiated a disinformation campaign to hinder sales of French Rafale aircraft in favor of its own J-35s, using fake social media accounts to propagate AI images of supposed “debris” from the planes that China’s weaponry destroyed,” read the report.

According to the over 700-page report, Chinese embassies “hailed the success” of its systems in the India-Pakistan clash, seeking to bolster weapons sales.

“According to French intelligence, China initiated a disinformation campaign to hinder sales of French Rafales in favour of its own J-35s, and it used fake social media accounts to propagate AI and video game images of supposed “debris” from the planes China’s weaponry destroyed. Chinese Embassy officials convinced Indonesia to halt a purchase of Rafale jets already in process, furthering China’s inroads into other regional actors’ military procurements,” it noted.

These alleged acts of China, according to the US’s report, have been referred to as “gray zone”.

In addition to reshaping norms of internationally accepted internal security behaviour, China has repeatedly resorted to coercive military, economic, and influence operations short of war–a range of activities often referred to as being in the “gray zone,” the report, released earlier this week, noted.

China’s role in the May 7-10, 2025, India-Pakistan military clash drew global attention as Pakistan’s military relied upon Chinese weaponry, besides reportedly leveraging Chinese intelligence.

India strongly responded, faced with the terrorist attack sponsored by Pakistan that killed 26 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22.

During the clash, which India named ‘Operation Sindoor’, the Indian Army had asserted that China helped Pakistan with “live inputs” on Indian military positions throughout that faceoff.

According to the report to the US Congress, China’s support to Pakistanis “effectively used the conflict as a testing ground for its own military capabilities”.

“Pakistan denied these allegations, and China neither confirmed nor denied its degree of involvement,” the report read.

China is the largest defence supplier to Pakistan. China provided approximately 82 per cent of Pakistan’s arms imports from 2019 to 2023, the report noted.

China expanded its military cooperation with Pakistan in 2025, compounding its own security tensions with India. In November and December 2024, China and Pakistan held the three-week Warrior-VIII counterterrorism drills, and in February 2025, China’s navy participated in Pakistan’s multinational AMAN drills, highlighting China’s and Pakistan’s growing defence cooperation, the report noted.

“India’s commentators viewed the drills as losses in their relationship with China and as direct security threats to its territorial positions,” it added.
Beijing, according to the report, “opportunistically leveraged the conflict to test and advertise the sophistication of its weapons, useful in the contexts of its ongoing border tensions with India and its expanding defence industry goals.”

In fact, in the weeks after the India-Pakistan conflict, Chinese embassies “hailed” what it considered “successes of its systems in the India-Pakistan clash, seeking to bolster weapons sales,” the report to the US Congress noted.

There were media reports that Rafale were downed during the Operation Sindoor. India refuted these claims, stating that all IAF assets and pilots returned safely, and labelled Pakistan’s assertions as “fake and baseless.” Air Marshal AK Bharti had stated that, “We are in a combat scenario, and losses are a part of it. All our pilots are back home.” (ANI)