China helped Pakistan with “live inputs” on Indian military deployment and attack trajectories during Operation Sindoor, India’s deputy army chief said on Friday, adding it was “like a live lab” for Beijing, allowing it “to test its weapons against other available weapons”.
Lieutenant General Rahul R. Singh identified several key concerns and “lessons” that emerged from the May 7-10 military conflict, such as China using its satellites to monitor Indian military deployment, and the need for better air defence systems.
He underscored that India was actually dealing with three adversaries in Pakistan, China and Turkey, whose drones Islamabad had used widely.
“We had one border and two adversaries, actually three. Pakistan was the front face and China was providing all possible support,” Singh said.
“This is no surprise because if you look at statistics, in the last five years, 81 per cent of the military hardware that Pakistan is getting is all Chinese…. China was able to test its weapons against various other weapon systems, so it was like a live lab available to them.”
Singh also referred to Turkey’s role in providing military hardware, including drones, to Islamabad.
Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt General Rahul R. Singh speaks during a conference-cum-exhibition on 'New Age Military Technologies: Industry Capabilities & Way Forward' organised by FICCI, in New Delhi, Friday, July 4, 2025. PTI
“When DGMO-level talks were going 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’,” Singh said.
“So, he was getting live inputs from China. That is one place we really need to move fast and take appropriate action.”
He added: “The next important lesson is the importance of C4ISR and civil military fusion. There is a lot to be done as far as this domain is concerned.”
“C4ISR” stands for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance.
Air defence
“Air defence and how it panned out during the entire operation was important.… Some of our indigenous systems performed well and some did not perform very well too,” Singh said.
Singh added: “This time, thankfully, our population centres were not quite addressed (were not at risk), but next time we need to be prepared for that, and for that more and more air defence, counter rocket artillery and drones systems have to be prepared, for which we have to move very fast.”
Singh highlighted China’s ancient military strategies of “36 stratagems” and killing the adversary with a “borrowed knife” to stress the point that Beijing had extended all possible support to Pakistan to harm India.
“It (China) would rather use the neighbour to cause pain (to India) than getting involved in a mudslinging match on the northern border,” he said.
‘21’ targets
Singh said India had identified a possible 21 targets, of which nine — all part of Pakistan’s terror infrastructure — were eventually engaged on May 7.
“The strategic messaging by (the Indian government) leadership was unambiguous.… The planning and selection of targets was based on a lot of data that was collected using technology and human intelligence,” he said.
“So, a total of 21 targets were actually identified, out of which nine targets we thought would be prudent to engage.… It was only the final day or the final hour (before the start of Operation Sindoor) that the decision was taken that these nine targets would be engaged.”
He added: “A considered decision was taken that it will be a tri-services approach to send the right message that we indeed are an integrated force.… An important consideration was that we should always be on top of the escalation ladder. When we reach a political military objective, we should try and put a stop to it.…”
Singh defended the cessation of hostilities announced on May 10 against the criticism that India stopped the military operation too early.
“War is easy to initiate but it’s very difficult to control. So I would say that was a very masterly stroke that was played to stop the war at an appropriate time…,” he said.
Singh, who was speaking at an event, “New Age Military Technologies”, organised by business chamber Ficci in Delhi, looks after capability development and budget necessities for the army.
His remarks were the latest in a series of revelations by senior defence officials about the losses and lessons for India during Operation Sindoor.
India’s defence attaché in Indonesia had last week said India had lost “some” combat jets on May 7, the opening day of Operation Sindoor, because of the “constraint given by the political leadership” against striking Pakistani military establishments and air defences.
Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chauhan had earlier said India lost fighter jets on Sindoor’s opening day before swiftly rectifying its tactical mistakes and launching further attacks to “hit deep inside Pakistan” on the subsequent days.
Cong seeks discussion
The Congress asked the government for a parliamentary discussion on India-China relations “so that a consensus can be built for a collective response to the geopolitical and economic challenges that China poses to India, directly and through Pakistan”.
“Lt Gen Singh has revealed some details of the extraordinary ways by which China helped the Pakistan Air Force. This is the same China which completely destroyed the status quo in Ladakh five years ago but to which Prime Minister Modi gave a public clean chit on June 19, 2020,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.
Four days after the Galwan Valley clash killed 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese troopers, Modi had said no one was occupying or had occupied Indian territory, allowing Beijing to deny any intrusion and claim ownership of all the territory it held in Ladakh.
“For five years, the INC has been demanding a discussion on the full gamut of India-China relations in the Parliament. The Modi government has consistently refused to have such a debate,” Ramesh said.
“The INC will continue to make this demand in the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament...”
Ramesh added: “Recently, China organised a trilateral meet with Pakistan and Bangladesh in Kunming. India’s trade deficit with China is at record highs. The border agreement arrived at is not a restoration of the status quo.”