China used India-Pak conflict as 'live lab', used strategy of killing by 'borrowed knife'

New Delhi: China used the four-day India-Pakistan conflict in May like a "live lab" to test various weapon systems and was providing all possible support to Islamabad, in line with the ancient military strategy of killing the adversary with a "borrowed knife", Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen. Rahul R Singh said on Friday.

The senior military officer said while Pakistan was the "front face", with China extending all possible support to its all-weather ally, Turkiye was also playing a major role by supplying military hardware to Islamabad, adding that India was actually dealing with at least three adversaries during the May 7-10 conflict.

In an address at a seminar on "New Age Military Technologies" organised by industry chamber FICCI, Lieutenant General Singh suggested that China used its satellites to monitor Indian military deployment as the Pakistan military was getting live inputs on it during the DGMO (Director General of Military Operations)-level phone talks.

The Deputy Chief of Army Staff highlighted China's ancient military strategy of "36 stratagems" and killing the adversary with a "borrowed knife" to buttress the point that Beijing extended all possible support to Pakistan to cause pain to India.

Lt Gen. Singh, who looks after the Indian Army's capability development and sustenance vertical, said Beijing's support to Islamabad was not surprising as 81 per cent of the military hardware used by the Pakistani armed forces are from China.

"Pakistan was the front face. We had China providing all possible support. This is no surprise because if you look at statistics, in the last five years, 81 per cent of the military hardware that Pakistan is getting is all Chinese," he said.

"He (China) would rather use the neighbour (Pakistan) to cause pain (to India) than getting involved in a mudslinging match on the northern border," Lt Gen. Singh said.

He said Turkiye also played an important role in providing support to Pakistan.

"We saw numerous drones coming and landing in the face of war, during the war, along with the individuals who are there," he said.

The military officer underlined the need for India to learn its lessons from the conflict.

"The next important lesson is the importance of C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) and civil-military fusion. There is a lot to be done as far as this domain is concerned," he said.

"When the DGMO-level talks were on, Pakistan actually was mentioning that we know that your such and such vector is primed and ready for action, and we would request you to perhaps pull it back. So he was getting live inputs from China. That is one place we really need to move fast and take appropriate action," Lt Gen. Singh said.

The Deputy Chief of Army Staff said the "strategic messaging" by the Indian leadership was unambiguous, adding that the planning and selection of targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) was based on a lot of data.

India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terrorist infrastructure in territories controlled by Pakistan, in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.

The strikes triggered four days of intense clashes that ended with an understanding on stopping the military actions on May 10.

New Delhi has been maintaining that India's fierce counter-attack that day forced Pakistan to plead for ending the hostilities.