'China ran fake-image campaign against Rafale': US Commission's big revelation on India-Pakistan clash

China launched a coordinated disinformation campaign after India's Operation Sindoor to undermine sales of Rafale jets and promote its own J-35 fighters, according to the US–China Economic and Security Review Commission's annual report to the US Congress.

The report says Beijing "used fake social media accounts to propagate AI and video game images of supposed 'debris'" from Indian aircraft destroyed during the India-Pakistan clash between May 7-10.

It adds that the campaign was aimed at advancing Chinese defense sales and damaging French arms exports. "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," the report notes.

Op Sindoor and Chinese involvement

The Commission details that China's role in the May 7-10 clash between Pakistan and Indian drew global attention as Pakistan's military relied upon Chinese weaponry and "reportedly leveraged Chinese intelligence." 

"The Indian Army claimed China helped Pakistan with 'live inputs' on Indian military positions throughout the crisis and 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 says.

Pakistan claimed that India lost six fighter jets, including Rafales, during the three-day operation, but the U.S. Commission in its report says that "only three jets were reportedly downed."

China–Pak military cooperation

The report highlights that China and Pakistan intensified military collaboration through multiple joint exercises in 2024 and 2025. "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," it notes.

These activities, according to the Commission, "highlight China's and Pakistan's growing defense cooperation" and were seen in India as "direct security threats" to its regional positions.

Beijing's marketing push

The Commission says the Pakistan military's use of Chinese systems in the 2025 conflict gave Beijing an opportunity to "test and advertise the sophistication of its weapons." Chinese equipment such as the HQ-9 air defense system, PL-15 air-to-air missiles, and J-10 fighter aircraft were deployed in active combat for the first time.

"As Pakistan's largest defense supplier, China provided approximately 82 percent of the country's arms imports from 2019 to 2023," the report states. 
 
Following the clash, China reportedly offered to sell 40 J-35 fifth-generation fighters, KJ-500 aircraft, and missile defense systems to Pakistan. That same month, Pakistan raised its 2025–26 defense budget by 20 per cent to $9 billion, despite a reduction in overall expenditure.

Chinese embassies subsequently "hailed the successes of its systems in the India–Pakistan clash," using Pakistan's claimed success against Indian Rafales as a marketing pitch for Chinese weapons, the report says. However, it also stresses that "only three jets flown by India's military were reportedly downed, and all may not have been Rafales."