New Delhi, July 4 (IANS) China is using Pakistan as a proxy to test its military hardware, said Lieutenant General Rahul R Singh, Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Capability Development and Sustenance), during a keynote address at a FICCI defence seminar on Friday. Referring to the recent Operation Sindoor, launched in response to the terrorist attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians, Lt Gen Singh said, “It’s no surprise that 81% of the military equipment Pakistan has acquired in the past five years is Chinese. China would rather inflict pain through its neighbours than directly engage.” He highlighted that China is using real conflicts as a “live lab” to assess its weapon systems. “This must be taken very seriously,” he cautioned. 

“We had one border and two adversaries, actually three. Pakistan was in the front. China was providing all possible support. Turkey also played an important role in providing the type of support it did. When DGMO-level talks were on, Pakistan was actually mentioning that your such and such important vectors are ready for action and requested us to pull it back. They were getting real time updates from China”, said the Lieutenant General. On the need of a robust air defence system, he acknowledged that some indigenous air defence systems performed well during Operation Sindoor, while others revealed critical gaps.

We don't have the luxury of systems like Israel’s Iron Dome because of our vast geography and limited resources. Still, our population centres must be protected with layered air defence,” he said. Lt Gen Singh underlined the growing role of drones, counter-drone systems, and long-range artillery in modern warfare. “We need to move very fast. It’s a cat-and-mouse game,” he remarked. He also emphasized the importance of enhancing C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) capabilities to maintain strategic dominance and civil-military fusion. Notably, the Operation Sindoor, India’s retaliatory action, exposed both vulnerabilities and strengths—but more importantly, it showed the growing depth of Sino-Pak-Turkish defence cooperation.