The relationship between China and Pakistan has reached a point where China has effectively become India’s “backdoor adversary” and is now using Pakistan as a real-time testing ground for its weapons and military systems, said Lieutenant General Rahul R Singh, who is the deputy chief of the Indian Army.

He added that since Turkey also supported Pakistan during the May conflict with India, the country is now dealing with not one but three opponents on its western front.

During the May conflict between India and Pakistan, Pakistan made heavy use of weapons and military platforms provided by China and Turkey. These included China’s PL-15 missiles, J-10 and JF-17 fighter aircraft, and HQ-9 air defence systems, along with Turkish drones.

“We had one border and two adversaries — actually three. Pakistan was in the front. China was providing all possible support — 81 per cent of the military hardware with Pakistan is Chinese…China is able to test its weapons against other weapons, so it’s like a live lab available to them. Turkey also played an important role in providing the type of support it did,” said Singh at the ‘New Age Military Technologies: Industry Capabilities and Way Forward’ conference held on Friday.

India launched Operation Sindoor on the night between May 6 and 7 in response to a terrorist attack in Pahalgam that left 26 people dead. After India carried out strikes on nine terrorist sites located in Pakistan and in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan responded by targeting both military and civilian areas across northwestern India. In the four-day clash, India retaliated by heavily damaging several Pakistani military positions, which included airbases, radar facilities and air defence systems.

With this new alliance formed by Pakistan, India is now facing three enemies on its western border, namely Pakistan, China and Turkey, said Singh.

Singh stated that China not only supplied weapons but also gave Pakistan real-time intelligence support, and this continued even while talks were taking place between the directors general of military operations from both sides.

“Pakistan was the front face. We had China providing all possible support, and it’s no surprise because if you were to look at statistics in the last five years, 81 per cent of the military hardware that Pakistan is getting is all Chinese. And China, of course, has the good old dictum ‘killed by a borrowed knife’ — the 36 stratagems that China talks about. So, they would rather use the neighbour to cause pain than get involved in the mudslinging match on the northern border,” said Singh.

Although major cities were not hit during the May conflict, Singh said India must be ready in case future clashes do involve attacks on large population centres.

Outside Jammu and Kashmir, where civilian areas, including homes and religious places, were hit, there were no widespread reports of civilian sites being targeted. India had earlier stated that Pakistan tried to attack Amritsar, which is the holiest city for Sikhs, using missiles and drones, but those attempts were stopped.

Singh also pointed out that India cannot rely on an air defence system like the Iron Dome used by Israel because of the size and scale of the country.

“We do not have the luxury, like we have been seeing the way Israel has with the Iron Dome and a number of other air defence features that they have. We do not have a luxury because our country is vast, so and such things cost a lot of money,” said Singh.