ISLAMABAD: China used this year’s four-day military confrontation between India and Pakistan to test and advertise its advanced weapons systems while deepening defense ties with Islamabad, according to a new report by a US congressional commission released this month.
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), a bipartisan body that reports annually to Congress, says Beijing’s role in the May 7–10 conflict highlighted how Chinese arms and intelligence support for Pakistan is reshaping South Asia’s security balance and complicating Washington’s efforts to manage tensions between two nuclear-armed rivals.
The clash followed an Apr. 22 militant attack near the resort town of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, where gunmen killed 26 civilians, mostly tourists. India blamed Pakistan-based militants and responded with missile and air strikes on targets in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, which Pakistan administers, prompting retaliatory Pakistani attacks involving drones, missiles and artillery. Analysts described the fighting, which left dozens dead on both sides, as the most intense India–Pakistan exchange in half a century, before a ceasefire brokered with US help took hold on May 10.
