Op Sindoor: CDS contradicts Army Deputy Chief, says China support to Pakistan ‘very difficult to define'

The Print

6 days ago

At a Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry event on Friday, Singh said, '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 percent of the military hardware that Pakistan is getting is Chinese. China, of course—the good old dictum, killed by a borrowed knife … So, it would rather use the neighbour to cause pain than get involved in the mud-slinging match on the northern borders.'
His comments came just days after Deputy Chief of Army Staff (capability development & sustenance) Lt Gen. Rahul R. Singh made a candid assessment in public, saying there were multiple lessons to be learnt from the 87-hour conflict, the biggest lesson being that while it was just one border, India had a minimum of three adversaries.
New Delhi: Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Anil Chauhan Tuesday sought to underplay Chinese support to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, saying, 'How much of State support is very difficult to define'.
Singh also said China was giving live updates of Indian military deployments to Pakistan.
'When DGMO-level talks were on, Pakistan actually was mentioning that we know that your such and such vector was primed and ready for action, and we would request you to—perhaps—pull it back. So, it was getting live inputs from China. That is one place we really need to move fast and take appropriate action,' he said.
However, speaking at an Observer Research Federation event in Delhi on Tuesday, Gen. Chauhan said that there was no unusual activity on the northern borders during the conflict with Pakistan.
'Maybe it was a short conflict, but it is a fact that there was no unusual activity. The second fact is that Pakistan imports most of its weapons from China. Chinese OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) have a number of liabilities, so there will be people attempting to service their liabilities, and they will be there. That happens everywhere,' he said.
'Third is information—there are a number of Chinese companies also doing work for commercial imagery. You have Maxar and Planet Labs. You can go to China or the US. How much of State support is very difficult to define,' he said.
China on Monday defended Beijing's 'traditional friendship' with Islamabad, saying that defence and security cooperation is part of the 'normal cooperation' between them.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
Also Read: Pakistan's claims 'absolutely not correct', no political constraints on armed forces: Defence secy