NEW DELHI: In what marks Beijing’s most explicit admission yet of its operational backing to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, China has publicly acknowledged that its engineers were stationed in Pakistan in a technical support capacity during last year’s military confrontation with India.
According to a report by the South China Morning Post, in an interview aired Thursday on China’s state-run broadcaster CCTV, which also marked the first anniversary of Operation Sindoor, Zhang Heng, an engineer with the Aviation Industry Corporation of China’s Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute, described working alongside Pakistani military personnel through the duration of the confrontation.
“At the support base, we frequently heard the roar of fighter jets taking off and the constant wail of air-raid sirens,” Zhang said. “By late morning, the temperature was already approaching 50 degrees Celsius. It was a real ordeal for us, both mentally and physically.”
Zhang said his team’s mandate was to ensure the aircraft and its associated weapons systems performed at peak operational effectiveness. Chengdu is the entity behind the J-10 family of fighter aircraft, which includes the J-10CE variant operated by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF).
“That wasn’t just recognition of the J-10CE,” he said. “It was also a testament to the deep bond we formed through working side by side.”
A fellow institute engineer, Xu Da, drew on a parental metaphor to describe the relationship between the design team and the J-10C they had developed before handing it over for frontline deployment.
“We nurtured it, cared for it and finally delivered it to the user. And now, it was facing a major test,” Xu said. “As for the outstanding results the J-10CE achieved, we weren’t very surprised and it didn’t feel sudden at all. In fact, it felt inevitable. The aircraft just needed the right opportunity. And when that moment came, it performed exactly as we expected.”
The remarks appeared calibrated to underscore the battlefield credentials of Chinese defence hardware while signalling Beijing’s deepening footprint in Pakistan’s military establishment, spanning combat aviation, embedded technical support and operational integration at the unit level.
The breadth of that support is reflected in the hardware. According to latest SIPRI data, China now accounts for over 80 per cent of Pakistan’s arms imports, an arsenal that spans JF-17 and J-10C combat aircraft armed with long-range PL-15 beyond-visual-range missiles, HQ-9/P air defence systems, Type 054A/P frigates, Hangor AIP-equipped submarines and a range of armed drones and missile systems.
The issue of Chinese involvement during the hostilities had been flagged by Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Rahul R Singh in July last year, when he said India was effectively dealing with “three adversaries,” Pakistan as the “front face”, China providing extensive material and intelligence support and Turkey playing a subsidiary role. Back then, he had specifically pointed to China furnishing Pakistan with satellite-based intelligence on Indian deployments and operational vectors.
