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Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Toronto Star
French intelligence: China used embassies to undermine sales of France's flagship Rafale fighter jet
PARIS (AP) — China deployed its embassies to spread doubts about the performance of French-made Rafale jets after they saw combat in India and Pakistan's clashes in May, French military and intelligence officials have concluded, implicating Beijing in an effort to hammer the reputation and sales of France's flagship fighter. Findings from a French intelligence service seen by The Associated Press say defense attaches in China's foreign embassies led a charge to undermine Rafale sales, seeking to persuade countries that have already ordered the French-made fighter — notably Indonesia — not to buy more and to encourage other potential buyers to choose Chinese-made planes. The findings were shared with AP by a French military official on condition that the official and the intelligence service not be named.
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
French intelligence: China used embassies to undermine sales of France's flagship Rafale fighter jet
PARIS (AP) — China deployed its embassies to spread doubts about the performance of French-made Rafale jets after they saw combat in India and Pakistan's clashes in May, French military and intelligence officials have concluded, implicating Beijing in an effort to hammer the reputation and sales of France's flagship fighter. Findings from a French intelligence service seen by The Associated Press say defense attaches in China's foreign embassies led a charge to undermine Rafale sales, seeking to persuade countries that have already ordered the French-made fighter — notably Indonesia — not to buy more and to encourage other potential buyers to choose Chinese-made planes. The findings were shared with AP by a French military official on condition that the official and the intelligence service not be named. Four days of India-Pakistan clashes in May were the most serious confrontation in years between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, and included air combat that involved dozens of aircraft from both sides. Military officials and researchers have since been digging for details of how Pakistan's Chinese-made military hardware — particularly warplanes and air-combat missiles — fared against weaponry that India used in airstrikes on Pakistani targets, notably French-made Rafale fighters. Sales of Rafales and other armaments are big business for France's defense industry and help efforts by the government in Paris to strengthen ties with other nations, including in Asia where China is becoming the dominant regional power. France is fighting what it calls a disinformation campaign against the Rafale Pakistan claimed its air force downed five Indian planes during the fighting, including three Rafales. French officials say that prompted questions about their performance from countries that have bought the fighter from French manufacturer Dassault Aviation. India acknowledged aircraft losses but didn't say how many. French air force chief Gen. Jérôme Bellanger said that he's seen evidence pointing to just 3 Indian losses — a Rafale, a Russian-made Sukhoi and a Mirage 2000, which is an earlier generation French-made jet. It was the first known combat loss of a Rafale, which France has sold to eight countries. 'Of course, all those, the nations that bought Rafales, asked themselves questions,' Bellanger said. French officials have been battling to protect the plane from reputational damage, pushing back against what they allege was a concerted campaign of Rafale-bashing and disinformation online from Pakistan and its ally China. They say the campaign included viral posts on social media, manipulated imagery showing supposed Rafale debris, AI-generated content and video-game depictions to simulate supposed combat. More than 1,000 social media accounts newly created as the India-Pakistan clashes erupted also spread a narrative of Chinese technological superiority, according to French researchers who specialize in online disinformation. French military officials say they haven't been able to link the online Rafale-bashing directly to the Chinese government. Intelligence assessment says Chinese officials lobbied potential clients to ditch French planes But the French intelligence service said Chinese embassy defense attaches echoed the same narrative in meetings they held with security and defense officials from other countries, arguing that Indian Air Force Rafales performed poorly and promoting Chinese-made weaponry. The defense attaches focused their lobbying on countries that have ordered Rafales and other potential customer-nations that are considering purchases, the intelligence service said. It said French officials learned of the meetings from nations that were approached. Asked by AP to comment on the alleged effort to dent the Rafale's appeal, the Ministry of National Defense in Beijing said: 'The relevant claims are pure groundless rumors and slander. China has consistently maintained a prudent and responsible approach to military exports, playing a constructive role in regional and global peace and stability.' In recent years, China has stepped up disinformation campaigns on global social media platforms like X, Instagram or Facebook, using networks of state-sponsored influencers, sites that pose as news organizations, and fake social media accounts to spread narratives from Beijing. France's Defense Ministry said the Rafale was targeted by 'a vast campaign of disinformation' that 'sought to promote the superiority of alternative equipment, notably of Chinese design.' France considers the jet a 'strategic French offering' 'The Rafale was not randomly targeted. It is a highly capable fighter jet, exported abroad and deployed in a high-visibility theater,' the Defense Ministry wrote on its website. 'The Rafale was also targeted because it represents a strategic French offering. By attacking the aircraft, certain actors sought to undermine the credibility of France and its defense industrial and technological base. The disinformation campaign therefore did not merely target an aircraft, but more broadly a national image of strategic autonomy, industrial reliability, and solid partnerships.' Dassault Aviation has sold 533 Rafales, including 323 for export to Egypt, India, Qatar, Greece, Croatia, the United Arab Emirates, Serbia and Indonesia. Indonesia has ordered 42 planes and is considering buying more. China may be hoping to weaken the security relationships that France is building with Asian nations by spreading worries about the equipment it supplies, said Justin Bronk, an airpower specialist at the Royal United Services Institute, a defense and security think tank in London. 'From a point of view of limiting Western countries' influence in the Indo-Pacific, it would make sense for China to be using the performance of Pakistani weapon systems — or at least purported performance — in downing at least one Rafale as a tool to undermine its attractiveness as an export,' he said. 'They certainly saw an opportunity to damage French sales prospects in the region.'
Winnipeg Free Press
4 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Shiite neighborhoods in Damascus commemorate Ashoura quietly after Assad's ouster
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Shiite pilgrims from Syria and abroad used to flock to the Sayyida Zeinab shrine outside of Damascus every year to commemorate Ashoura, a solemn day marking the 7th-century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson. In the days leading up to Ashoura, the streets would be lined with black and red mourning banners and funeral tents. On the day of the commemoration, black-clad mourners would process through the streets, while in gathering halls known as 'husseiniyas,' the faithful would listen and weep as clerics recounted the death of Imam Hussein and his 72 companions in the battle of Karbala in present-day Iraq. Protecting the shrine dedicated to Sayyida Zeinab, the Prophet Muhammad's granddaughter and sister to Hussein, from Sunni extremists became a rallying cry for Shiite fighters during Syria's 14-year civil war. It was often pointed to as justification for the intervention of militants from Iran, Lebanon and Iraq in the Syrian conflict in support of former President Bashar Assad. This year, after Assad's ouster in a lightning rebel offensive led by Sunni Islamist insurgents, the Shiite neighborhoods of Damascus were subdued. The hotels that were once brimming with religious tourists were empty. There were no banners or processions. The faithful continued to observe their rituals inside the shrine and prayer halls, but quietly and with strict security measures. Violence takes its toll Syrian Shiites already felt they were in a precarious position after Assad's ouster. Their fears increased after a suicide bomber blew himself up in a church outside of Damascus last month, killing 25 people and wounding dozens more. Government officials blamed the attack on a cell of the Islamic State group and said they had thwarted plans by the same cell to attack Sayyida Zeinab. In Damascus' Zain al Abdeed neighborhood, mourners entered gathering halls after going through a search and screening with metal detectors. Qassem Soleiman, head of a body that coordinates between the Shiite community and the new government, said Shiite leaders had agreed with the state that they would hold their Ashoura rituals but would 'cut back on certain things outside of the halls in order for no one to get hurt and for there not to be problems.' The attack on the Mar Elias Church in Dweil'a 'put us into a state of great fear and anxiety,' he said. 'So we tried as much as possible to do our commemorations and rituals and ceremonies for Ashoura inside the halls.' Jafaar Mashhadiyia, an attendant at one of the gathering halls, echoed similar fears. 'The security situation is still not stable — there are not a lot of preventive measures being taken in the streets,' he said. 'The groups that are trying to carry out terrorist attacks have negative views of Shiites, so there is a fear of security incidents.' Worry affects the economy The absence of pilgrims coming from abroad has been an economic hit to the area. 'There are no visitors,' said a hotel owner in the Sayyida Zeinab area near the shrine, who asked to be identified only by his nickname, Abu Mohammad, because of security concerns. During the lead-up to Ashoura, 'the hotels should be 100% full,' he said. 'The Iraqis normally fill up the area.' But this year, they didn't come. His economic woes predate Assad's fall. In the months before the rebel offensive in Syria, a low-level conflict between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah escalated into a full-scale war in Lebanon. Hundreds of thousands fled from Lebanon across the border into Syria to escape the bombardment, with many of them staying in the hotels in Sayyida Zeinab at discounted rates, Abu Mohammad said. A guard at a checkpoint in Sayyida Zeinab, who gave only his nickname, Abu Omar, in accordance with regulations, said he had seen no security issues in the area since the fall of Assad. 'There are attempts to sow discord and sectarianism by corrupt people who were with the former regime and want to play on the string of sectarianism and destroy the country and create issues between us,' he said, describing them as 'individual efforts.' Abu Omar pointed to a group of local men sitting in chairs on the sidewalk nearby smoking hookah. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. 'If they didn't feel safe here next to us, next to a security checkpoint, they wouldn't come and sit here.' Soleiman said he hopes that next year, the foreign pilgrims will be back and Shiites will be able to openly commemorate Ashoura, with Syrians from other groups coming to see the rituals as they did in the past. 'We hope that next year things will return to how they were previously, and that is a call to the state and a call to the General Security agency and all the political figures,' he said. 'We are one of the components in building this state.' ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
