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Express Tribune
16 hours ago
- Business
- Express Tribune
Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed chairs Global Parties Dialogue in Beijing
Listen to article Chinese technological advancement has overtaken the West in key areas, including defence, artificial intelligence and green innovation, according to remarks made by Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed at a high-level global dialogue in Beijing. Speaking at the opening of the Global Political Parties Dialogue on "Asia in a Changing World", Senator Mushahid said China had become a 'scientific superpower' and was reshaping global dynamics not through conquest, but by peaceful economic development. 'China is surpassing the West in key sectors, from J10C fighter jets and Deep Seek AI to electric vehicles,' said Mushahid, citing a recent Economist cover story. He framed the trend as part of the broader 'Rise of the East', with Asia emerging as the new global centre of gravity. READ: China assures of $3.7b refinancing next month Chaired by Senator Mushahid in his role as Co-Chairman of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP), the Dialogue brought together representatives from 250 political parties across 29 countries. The conference was hosted by the International Department of the Communist Party of China (IDCPC) in Beijing. In a striking geopolitical assertion, Mushahid also described China as 'part of South Asia' and 'a source of stability in the region,' noting its peaceful relations with nearly all neighbours despite having borders with 14 countries. He stressed that the border dispute with India should not define bilateral relations and must be resolved peacefully. The panel also featured senior political figures including IDCPC Minister Liu Jianchao, former Thai Speaker Bokin Balakula, and former Mongolian Foreign Minister Damdin Tsogtbaatar. READ MORE: PCI report details 16 hours that shook South Asia Liu echoed Mushahid's remarks, affirming that China does not aim to export its political model, but offers its poverty alleviation experience as a blueprint for developing nations. 'China's rise has come through reforms and development,' Liu said, adding that China remains committed to cooperation and peaceful coexistence within South Asia. Pakistan's presence at the conference was notable, with former Senate Chairman Nayyar Hussain Bokhari, Senator Anusha Rehman, Ambassador to China Khalil Hashmi, and several business and think tank representatives in attendance. On the sidelines of the event, Liu held a separate meeting with Senator Mushahid, discussing high-level exchanges between the two countries, including his own visit to Islamabad in June 2024 and the recent trip by Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar to Beijing. The conference also received congratulatory messages from the Prime Ministers of Pakistan and Malaysia, underlining the event's significance in shaping future regional cooperation.
Japan Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Times
Lessons from India-Pakistan war: Were China's arms overrated?
The brief military conflict between India and Pakistan from May 7 to May 10 marked a turning point in South Asian security dynamics. This was not a conventional border conflict, but a high-tech showdown featuring drones, cruise and ballistic missiles and long-range air defenses. While India and Pakistan were the primary belligerents, a third power — China — played a pivotal, if indirect, role. Beijing's involvement via the supply of advanced weapon systems and real-time satellite reconnaissance data to Pakistan turned the engagement into a revealing trial run for Chinese arms in a live combat setting. This conflict offered the first real-world glimpse into how China's premier military technologies perform under fire. The implications extend far beyond South Asia — to Taiwan, the East and South China Seas and global arms markets. The operational lessons drawn from this brief war matter not just for India and Pakistan, but for military planners from Tokyo to Washington. Scrutinizing Chinese systems Pakistan relied heavily on Chinese military hardware. Most notably, it deployed the J-10C 'Vigorous Dragon' fighter jets armed with PL-15E air-to-air missiles and HQ-9 long-range surface-to-air missile systems with a 200-kilometer engagement envelope. These platforms were tested in actual combat for the first time. Chinese satellite reconnaissance reportedly supported Pakistani targeting, with Beijing even re-tasking satellites to enhance coverage over Indian military zones. Yet despite the apparent sophistication of Pakistan's imported arsenal, the results were far from decisive. The J-10Cs launched multiple PL-15E missiles at Indian targets, but there is no independent verification of successful hits. India's integrated air defenses withstood the onslaught, gaining air superiority. Indeed, by the conflict's end, Indian airstrikes had crippled major Pakistani air bases — including Nur Khan and Bholari — without suffering any confirmed retaliatory damage. Nur Khan, near Pakistan's nuclear command and army headquarters, was particularly symbolic. Its targeting by Indian cruise missiles signaled a calibrated message: Even high-value, well-defended assets are not beyond reach. Disproportionate impact While both sides employed drones and missiles, the quality of strikes proved more decisive than the quantity. Pakistan reportedly launched 300 to 400 drones in a single night, yet satellite imagery showed little damage on Indian soil. India, by contrast, relied on precision standoff weapons — especially the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile, codeveloped with Russia — which successfully hit high-value targets in Pakistan with minimal risk to Indian military personnel. The BrahMos missile, already exported by India, emerged as the standout performer of the conflict. It demonstrated both survivability and pinpoint accuracy in a contested airspace, validating India's investment in standoff precision platforms. These are designed to destroy critical infrastructure without needing to cross the enemy's border. India's shift toward such systems reflects a broader strategic change: moving from reactive defense to a more assertive doctrine that punishes Pakistan's transborder terrorism with calibrated strikes. This could have far-reaching implications for deterrence on the Indian subcontinent. Global strategic significance There are three major reasons why this short conflict merits serious international attention. First, it offers a preview of what a future Chinese military operation might look like. Beijing has made no secret of its ambitions toward Taiwan and any effort to seize or blockade the self-governing island would likely rely on systems similar to those used by Pakistan. That makes the observed performance of the J-10C, PL-15E and HQ-9 systems particularly relevant to U.S. and allied military planners. Second, in the South China Sea, China has grown increasingly aggressive, harassing Philippine and Vietnamese vessels with ramming, water cannons and even bladed weapons. If China were to escalate in this region, the same air and missile systems could come into play. The India-Pakistan conflict thus provides critical insight into their combat performance and vulnerabilities. Third, in the Himalayas, India and China remain locked in a military standoff that was triggered in 2020 by Chinese encroachments on Indian borderlands. Despite diplomatic moves to ease tensions, both countries continue to mass troops and weaponry along their disputed frontier. The combat data generated from the conflict with Pakistan offers India an invaluable edge in anticipating Chinese capabilities and countermeasures. Propaganda vs. reality Predictably, the information war ran parallel to the actual conflict. Pakistan claimed to have shot down at least five Indian fighter jets on the first day. However, no wreckage has been presented and satellite imagery has not corroborated the claim. The Indian military dismissed the allegation, stating that all its pilots returned safely. On the Indian side, Lt. Gen. Rajiv Ghai stated that some Pakistani aircraft were downed over Pakistan's own territory. This claim, while more plausible given the precision of India's strikes, similarly lacks independent verification. What is evident, however, is the absence of traditional dogfights between rival warplanes. All air combat appears to have occurred beyond visual range, with neither side's fighter jets crossing international borders. This reflects the international evolution in the nature of air warfare, emphasizing sensors, missiles and electronic warfare over maneuverability and pilot skill. Electronic warfare and drones Both sides deployed drones extensively, but with varying degrees of effectiveness. India primarily used small drones for ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance), whereas Pakistan fielded swarms of drones for both reconnaissance and attack. However, Pakistan's boast of neutralizing 85% of Indian drones seems overstated. Conversely, India's robust electronic warfare systems, along with its multilayered air defenses, effectively intercepted or deflected most Pakistani projectiles, including a ballistic missile aimed at New Delhi. Interestingly, China's CM-401 missile — a hypersonic anti-ship missile launched in this conflict from upgraded JF-17 jets — was reportedly used by Pakistan against land targets. Yet there was no visible or confirmed impact, raising questions about the missile's versatility outside its intended maritime role. The geopolitical signaling The tide of battle turned decisively after the explosions from the May 10 Indian strike on Nur Khan airbase triggered American alarm, especially given that Pakistani nuclear assets are located near this airbase. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio intervened, urging Pakistan's military leadership to de-escalate. Within hours, Pakistan's director-general of military operations contacted his Indian counterpart to propose an immediate ceasefire, which India accepted. This sequence underscores two points. First, Indian strikes achieved their objective of imposing costs without triggering an all-out war. Second, India effectively pierced the perceived immunity conferred by Pakistan's nuclear deterrent — an umbrella under which Pakistan has long sponsored cross-border terrorism with relative impunity. Final takeaways For China, the conflict served as a valuable though sobering test of its exported weaponry. While some systems functioned adequately, others like the HQ-9 air defense system showed critical vulnerabilities when deployed without integrated support. Beijing will likely revise and upgrade these platforms based on the feedback from its client-state. For India, the conflict validated its investment in precision strike capabilities and highlighted the importance of indigenous platforms like the BrahMos. It also signaled a new doctrinal posture — proactive, punitive and technologically assertive. For the world, this short conflict provided a rare, real-world laboratory to observe how modern missile and drone warfare unfolds between technologically matched rivals. In an era of strategic ambiguity and hybrid threats, those lessons are not just instructive; they are indispensable. Brahma Chellaney is a geostrategist and the author of nine books, including 'Water: Asia's New Battleground.'
Bloomberg
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Why China's Fighter Jets Should Worry the US and Taiwan
The recent aerial clash between Pakistan and India offers a glimpse of how China is narrowing the gap in military airpower with the US. It's a warning not just for Washington, but for Taipei, too. Claims from both sides remain contested, but a broader picture is emerging among experts who track China's air force and fighter jet development: Beijing's defense systems are growing increasingly credible. Pakistan said its deployment of Chinese-manufactured J-10C fighters downed multiple Indian aircraft, although New Delhi denies this.
New York Times
20-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
China's Fighter Jets and Missiles Get a Boost From the India-Pakistan Clash
When Pakistan said it had shot down multiple Indian fighter jets earlier this month, ripples from that claim stretched all the way to the South China Sea, to Taiwan. The Pakistani forces were flying Chinese-made J-10C fighters during the four-day conflict with India, and officials said Chinese missiles had brought down Indian planes. The J-10 jets, which Chinese media have dubbed the 'fighter of national pride,' have often been used in Chinese military exercises to menace Taiwan, the self-governing democracy that Beijing claims as its own. But they had not been battle-tested, leaving open the question of how well they would perform in actual combat. In China, commentators declared that question now answered. 'Taiwanese experts say the Taiwanese military has no chance against the J-10C,' The Global Times, a nationalist tabloid, crowed on Monday. The Chinese government has not directly confirmed the Pakistani claims, and India has not publicly confirmed losing any aircraft. But on Saturday, China's state broadcaster declared on social media that J-10C jets had recently 'achieved combat results for the first time,' with the post including a hashtag related to the India-Pakistan conflict. Zhou Bo, a retired senior colonel in the Chinese military, wrote in an op-ed article that the jets' success would boost Chinese confidence in future territorial disputes over Taiwan and the South China Sea. 'The real effect is actually for the world, including Taiwanese authorities, to see how China's defense industry has developed by leaps and bounds,' Mr. Zhou said in an interview. 'This is for them to think about.' Further stoking Chinese pride were reports that some of the Indian jets that Pakistan said it had downed were manufactured by France. Some analysts have cast the conflict as a proxy showdown between Western and Chinese arms capabilities, since India has been stepping up its purchases from the West, while Pakistan has drastically increased its military purchases from China. In addition to jets, Pakistan also used Chinese-made air-defense systems and long-range air-to-air PL-15 missiles in the clash with India, according to security officials and Syed Muhammad Ali, a senior Pakistani defense analyst. Pakistan claimed that the PL-15 missiles hit their targets, though India has said that they did not. The Chinese military's lack of real-world combat experience — it has not fought a war in more than 40 years — is a longstanding source of concern for some in Beijing. But China's leader, Xi Jinping, has made modernizing the military a priority. China has increased its defense spending even as economic growth has slowed, and it is now the fourth-largest arms exporter globally. Chinese and Taiwanese analysts alike said the recent conflict suggested that Chinese weapons were now on par with Western ones. 'This is the most convincing appearance of the Chinese weapon system on the world stage ' Hu Xijin, former editor in chief of The Global Times, wrote in a blog post. Mr. Hu added that the United States, having seen proof of China's prowess, would be less likely to intervene on Taiwan's behalf. Some in Taiwan have expressed similar concerns. Li Cheng-chieh, a retired major general in the Taiwanese military, said in an interview that the Pakistani air force's experience suggested that Taiwanese planes would have 'little chance of survival' against Chinese ones. 'Whether our fighter jets would even have the opportunity to take off is a question mark,' he said. Notably, amid the online nationalism, the Chinese government itself has been more reserved , focusing more on touting Chinese military advances in general. State media did not confirm the use of the Chinese jets in the conflict until more than a week after Pakistan said it had successfully deployed them. Beijing's restraint may stem partly from wanting to avoid imperiling a recent diplomatic thaw with India. The two giants have in recent months agreed to resume direct flights and cooperate on trade issues, after their relations fell apart with a deadly clash over a disputed land border in 2020. This month's conflict may also have raised questions about other Chinese equipment even as it seemed to show off the strength of its fighter jets. The Indian government said in a statement last week that its air force had 'bypassed and jammed Pakistan's Chinese-supplied air defense systems' in 'just 23 minutes, demonstrating India's technological edge.' On Monday, a spokeswoman for China's foreign ministry declined to address Indian claims that China had also provided Pakistan with active air-defense and satellite support during the clash. 'Both India and Pakistan are important neighbors of China,' the spokeswoman, Mao Ning, said. Ou Si-fu, a research fellow at Taiwan's Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that Taiwan should not overreact to the recent incident. He noted that it was not yet verified that Chinese-made PL-15 missiles had actually shot down the planes. Still, he acknowledged that the recent developments should be closely studied. 'It's like an alarm clock, reminding everyone not to be careless,' he said. 'Taiwan has no capital to be careless.'
Japan Times
19-05-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
China's defense industry is getting a DeepSeek moment
In investing, narratives can matter a lot more than earnings or cash flow analysis. Pakistan is certainly spinning a good story about China's defense industry. Its army said it used Chinese J-10C planes to shoot down five Indian jets, including three Rafales, a MIG-29 and an Su-30. Rafales are made by France's Dassault Aviation, while the other two were imported from Russia. India's government has not confirmed or denied Islamabad's claim and evidence remains inconclusive. Nonetheless, investors got excited. It was the first real combat between modern Chinese warplanes and advanced Western jets — and surprisingly, China seems to have come out on top. On Monday, Avic Chengdu Aircraft, which made the J-10C jets, soared 20.6%, while Dassault tumbled 6.2%. Some are hailing it as another DeepSeek moment for China. In late January, a little-known Hangzhou-based startup released an AI reasoning model that performed almost as well as OpenAI at a fraction of the cost, thereby propelling a bull run in Chinese tech names. Are we witnessing a repeat, in defense this time? I see parallels. While the jury is still out on how disruptive DeepSeek is to U.S. big tech, its arrival has pointed to a new way forward for China and shows that growth is still possible despite U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs. More than manufacturing electronics and apparel, Chinese companies can be good at making software, too, the thinking goes. Over time, they might just be able to gain market share in services exports, which the U.S. dominates. Similarly, Chinese defense companies might one day be able to sell more weapons overseas. Between 2020 and 2024, China accounted for only 5.9% of global arms exports, well behind America's 43%, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. In addition, there's little geographical diversity; Almost two-thirds of China's weapons exports went to Pakistan. So imagine China selling more warplanes and missiles to the Global South. Already, it's the biggest supplier in West Africa, accounting for 26% of total arms imports there. This is lucrative business: Dassault Aviation notched 17% net income margin last year. To be sure, investors will have to wait for months, if not years, to see if developing nations friendly with Beijing will place more military equipment orders. But positioning well ahead of positive earnings is nothing new. German and French defense names are on fire this year, triggered by the White House's isolationist foreign policies and NATO countries' vows to ramp up spending. Whether the Europeans can get their act together is another matter. But that has not stopped Dassault from rallying more than 50% for the year despite Monday's drop. Meanwhile, Germany's Rheinmetall and Hensoldt more than doubled in market value. There is also the lack of availability. One reason European military stocks are doing so well is because there are only a handful of publicly listed names that asset managers can get exposure to. After all, for decades Europe relied on the U.S. for national security, so the continent's defense industry is fragmented and in need of an overhaul. A similar picture emerged in China. Military modernization is new and the country only weaned itself off imported Russian weapons in the mid-2010s. For arms exporters, there's no better advertisement success in a real confrontation. In a way, China's long-held friendship with Pakistan is already paying off. Islamabad is doing a great job marketing Beijing's military might. Shuli Ren is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asian markets. She is a CFA charterholder.
