India was dealing with three adversaries during Sindoor: Army Staff Lieutenant General Rahul R Singh
In an address at industry chamber FICCI, the senior official said China also used the India-Pakistan conflict like a "live lab" available to test various weapon systems.
Lt Gen. Singh also 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 harm India.
India was actually dealing with three adversaries, he said, suggesting that besides Pakistan and China, Turkiye was also playing a major role in supplying military hardware to Islamabad.
The Deputy Chief of Army Staff, 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 of the Pakistani armed forces are from China.
"He (China) would rather use the neighbour to cause pain (to India) than getting involved in a mudslinging match on the northern border," Lt Gen. Singh said.
"Pakistan was the front face. We had China providing all possible support. And there was no surprise because, if you look at the statistics in the last five years, 81 per cent of the military hardware that Pakistan is getting is all Chinese," he said.
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