In a report by Epoch Times on May 9, 2026, the state-run China Central Television (CCTV) for the first time confirmed that during the 2025 India-Pakistan conflict, China sent military experts to provide technical support to Pakistan on the ground.
According to CCTV’s program “Military Affairs of CCTV,” aired on Thursday, May 7, Chinese aerospace company Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) engineers were interviewed, revealing that they were dispatched to the front lines to directly provide ground technical support to Pakistan.
On April 22, 2025, a terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir in India resulted in the death of 26 people, escalating tensions between India and Pakistan. India then launched “Operation Sindoo” to target nine terrorist locations within Pakistan and the Pakistan-controlled Kashmir region, leading to a four-day conflict between the two countries.
It was reported that a Chinese-made J-10CE fighter jet shot down at least one Indian-made Mirage fighter jet. This incident garnered widespread media attention as it marked the first reported instance of a J-10CE fighter jet downing an enemy aircraft and also the first time a Mirage fighter jet was shot down.
CCTV reported that Zhang Heng, an engineer from the Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute under AVIC, was one of the personnel providing technical support to Pakistan during the conflict. The institute is a key research and development entity for advanced combat aircraft and drones in China.
Zhang Heng stated, “During that time at the base camp, we often heard the roaring sound of jets taking off and continuous blaring of air raid sirens. The weather in May was approaching noon, and the temperature had reached nearly 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).”
Another interviewee, Xu Da, also from the same institute, provided logistic support on-site for Pakistan during the war, describing it as a “major test.”
The statements from these two interviewed engineers essentially confirm for the first time that Chinese personnel directly participated in the India-Pakistan conflict in the disputed Kashmir region.
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), a specially designated body of the US Congress, noted in its 2025 annual report that Beijing was indeed using the India-Pakistan conflict to test and promote the precision of its weapons. Furthermore, the report revealed that China may have also been providing real-time intelligence to Pakistan simultaneously.
Pakistan is currently known to be the only country aside from China with J-10C fighter jets, having ordered 36 J-10C fighter jets and 250 matching PL-15 missiles in 2020.
In July 2025, the Indian Army stated that 81% of Pakistan’s military equipment comes from China, with Beijing considering Pakistan as a “live testing ground” for its military technology.
According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), since 2015, China has sold $8.2 billion worth of weapons to Pakistan. From 2020 to 2024, China was the world’s fourth-largest arms exporter.