China ran disinformation campaign to hinder Rafale sales to India after conflict with Pakistan: US Report

Washington, DC [US], November 19 : A new US assessment on Wednesday claimed that China "initiated a disinformation campaign" after the India-Pakistan conflict in May to hinder sales of French Rafale aircraft in favour of its own J-35s, using "fake" social media accounts.

A report by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission stated, "Following the May 2025 India-Pakistan border crisis, China initiated a disinformation campaign to hinder sales of French Rafale aircraft in favour of its own J-35s, using fake social media accounts to propagate AI images of supposed debris from the planes that China's weaponry destroyed."

Further, the report added that the Chinese Embassy officials "convinced Indonesia to halt a purchase of Rafale jets already in process, furthering China's inroads into other regional actors' military procurements."

The report also highlighted a steady rise in China-Pakistan defence cooperation through late 2024 and early 2025.

"In November and December 2024, China and Pakistan held the three-week Warrior-VIII counterterrorism drills, and in February 2025, China's Navy participated in Pakistan's multinational AMAN drills, highlighting China's and Pakistan's growing defence cooperation," the report said.

The report further stated that in June 2025, "China reportedly offered to sell 40 J-35 fifth-generation fighter jets, KJ-500 aircraft, and ballistic missile defence systems to Pakistan."

"That same month, Pakistan announced a 20 per cent increase in its 2025-2026 defence budget, raising planned expenditures to USD 9 billion despite an overall budget decrease", the report added.

The assessment coincided with another development in Washington, where earlier in the day, US President Donald Trump reiterated his claim that he stopped eight wars during his presidency, including one between India and Pakistan.

The remarks came during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Crown Prince Mohammed is taking his first trip to Washington since Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's killing in 2018.

"We've done a lot of good with this office. I've stopped eight wars. I've actually stopped eight wars. I have another one to go with Putin. I'm a little surprised at Putin. It's taken longer than I thought. But we stopped India and Pakistan. I could go through the list. I'm very proud. I stopped one that was almost ready to start again. So it all took place right here in the Oval Office, whether by telephone or whether they came in. Many of these leaders have come in and signed their peace deals in the Oval Office," Trump told reporters at the Oval Office.

President Donald Trump has consistently claimed that he used trade tariffs to stop a potential large-scale war between India and Pakistan, stating that his intervention "settled" the conflict within 24 hours, a claim denied by India.

The US President was referring to the border clashes between India and Pakistan that followed India's precision strikes in May this year on Pakistani terror camps under Operation Sindoor, launched in response to the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir that claimed 26 lives.

Just last month, United States President Donald Trump yet again claimed credit for stopping hostilities between India and Pakistan, which started following the deadly Pahalgam terror attack in April of this year.

"I got it done (ceasefire). There are others. If you look at India and Pakistan, I could say almost any one of the deals that I've already done I thought would have been more difficult than Russia and Ukraine, but it didn't work out that way," President Trump said while interacting with presspersons aboard Air Force One.

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