India-Pakistan war is also a China vs US conflict due to...: How two world powers are pushing South Asia towards a major conflict by...

India.com

07-05-2025

(File)
India-Pakistan war: India on Wednesday midnight, conducted Operation Sindoor, launching a wave of deadly, precision strikes on terror infrastructures deep inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), to avenge last month's heinous Pahalgam terror attack, which has further sparked the threat of a full-scale India-Pakistan war, that has the potential to quickly devolve into a nuclear conflict.
However, a conventional war between India and Pakistan is not just a conflict between these two nuclear-armed neighbors, but indirectly a fight between two global superpowers– the United States and China. According to geopolitical experts, any India-Pakistan war fought with conventional weaponry is also a direct confrontation between American and Chinese-made armaments as both Beijing and Washington are supply arms to Islamabad and New Delhi at a frantic pace in wake of the ongoing conflict. India now closer to US, Pakistan irrelevant
Citing the latest report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a New York Times reported noted that India is shed its age-old hesitation and concerns about the US, and is now purchasing billions of dollars worth of American weapons. The NYT reported pointed out that Pakistan has lost its relevancy for the US after the end of latter's military campaign in Afghanistan, and now Islamabad has become closer to China, who has emerged its largest weapons supplier in recent years.
'America has developed India as a partner to counter China in South Asia, while Beijing has deepened its investment in Pakistan as New Delhi has become closer to Washington,' the report noted. India major ally for US in South Asia
Amid deteriorating China-US relations, especially under the Trump administration, the US is making attempts to use India as a bulwark against China in South Asia, and has expanded its strategic and military ties with New Delhi over the past few years.
According to Ashley Tellis, a former diplomat and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the United States and China have now become central to the respective security interests of India and Pakistan. Tellis noted that the US has lent its silent yet strong support to any Indian military action against Pakistan, and which has also been the case this time around.
After the Pahalgam terror attack, the Trump administration, including US President Donald Trump, openly came out in India's support, and stated that the US will stand with India in its fight against terrorism. Similarly, China was among the few nations who came out in Pakistan's support, vowing to protect the sovereignty of its ally in wake of heightened tensions with India.
'If you think about what a future conflict between India and Pakistan might look like, it will increasingly appear like India is fighting from the US and European platforms and Pakistan is fighting from the Chinese platforms,' Lindsay Ford, a senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation America and a former senior US defense official, told NYT. Direct fight between American and Chinese weapons
Over the years, China has emerged as the largest weapons supplier to Pakistan, with more than 80 percent of Islamabad's arsenal estimated to be filled with Chinese armaments by 2025, compared to just 38 percent till the year 2000. On the other hand, India has gradually reduced its dependence on Russian weapons by more than half.
Around 80 percent of India's advanced weapons between 2006-2010 were Russian-made, but this figure has now dropped to 38 percent as New Delhi is now acquiring nearly half of its weapons from the US, France and Israel, which includes AH-64E Apache attack helicopters, Rafale fighter jets, Heron and MQ-9 drones and NASAMS air defense systems.
In contrast, Pakistan's arms supplies from China have also exponentially increased with Islamabad purchasing advanced weaponry like the JF-17 fighter jets, HQ-9 air defense, VT-4 tanks and Wing Loong drones from Beijing. Pakistan has also jointly developed the J-10C fighter jets in collaboration with China. US, China role in India-Pakistan conflict
While the US has not openly taken sides in the ongoing India-Pakistan conflict, the Trump administration has stated that it supports India's 'right to self-defense' albeit advising 'maximum restraint'.
On the other hand, China has come out openly in support of Pakistan, terming Islamabad as a strategic ally Beijing will protect at all costs. According to reports, the Chinese ambassador in Islamabad met Pakistani leaders at least twice since the Pahalgam attack, and it remains to be seen what role China plays if Pakistan decided to mount a retaliatory attack after India's Operation Sindoor.