The official also said that per the intelligence inputs, Pakistan’s ISI has procured a large number of hexacopters from a Chinese firm associated with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, which is considered a game-changer by both countries for the fulfilment of their respective geo-strategic interests.
The NDTV report added that these claims were corroborated by the seizures of weapons made by the Indian security forces in the J&K region which included several recoveries of EMEI Type 97 NSR rifles produced by Chinese company Norinco, a firearm used by Chinese soldiers and also gifted to the Pakistan Frontier Force as part of CPEC cooperation.
For instance, per the intelligence report cited by NDTV, in mid-September of 2020, a group of terrorists attempting to infiltrate from Pakistan-occupied J&K in the Gurez sector of North Kashmir, abandoned their rucksacks when challenged by the Indian security forces before jumping into the Kishenganga River. Among the weapons recovered in this incident, was a Chinese-made Norinco QBZ 95 rifle, which is used by soldiers of Pakistan Frontier Corps.
Other than that, there have been reports of Indian security forces having recovered Chinese-made encrypted communication ultra sets, steel-core armour-piercing assault rifle rounds, defensive hand grenades, etc., from the terrorists operating in J&K.
Also, in October 2024, TRF terror organisation carried out an attack at the tunnel construction site on the Srinagar-Leh national highway in J&K’s Ganderbal district, which left a doctor and six workers dead. This 6.5-kilometer tunnel is meant to provide all-weather connectivity between J&K and Ladakh.
A day after this attack, People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF), another Pakistani terror outfit, released a statement praising TRF for this attack by calling it “strategic”, saying that the attack was aimed at disrupting Indian military deployments toward the eastern border, stating that this was “against our military interests and those of our Chinese friends.”
Per the statement, PAFF praised TRF for the attack by calling it “strategic”. PAFF claimed the attack aimed to disrupt Indian military deployments toward the eastern border, stating it was “against our military interests and those of our Chinese friends”, reported The Times of India (TOI) citing the terror outfit’s statement.
Now, according to unnamed Indian officials cited by TOI, there is no evidence of China’s involvement in this attack other than the statement by PAFF. However, the statement does go to show that Pakistan-aligned terror organisations have a sense of alignment of their goals with China’s interests.
So, there is enough material in the public domain to make a substantiated assertion that China and Pakistan are hand-in-gloves in the orchestration of terror attacks inside India’s J&K region. Now let us also take a brief look at how China has been bolstering Pakistan’s military capabilities.
China Pakistan Military Cooperation
Since past four years China has been providing assistance to the Pakistan Army in strengthening its capabilities in the J&K sector through construction of steelhead bunkers, installation of highly encrypted communication towers as well as underground fibre cables along the LOC, and provision of weaponry.
Chinese experts have been reportedly involved in construction of tunnel in the Leepa Valley of Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK) to realise an all-weather road connecting with the Karakoram highway.
Also, there have been reports in the Indian media suggesting ground presence of Chinese troops and engineers during the buildup of infrastructure such as underground bunkers along the LoC.
Also, Pakistan is known to have deployed advanced radar systems of Chinese origin, like the ‘JY’ and ‘HGR’ series in the Kashmir region to improve medium and low-altitude target detection capabilities for its army and air defense units.
Other than that, China has also provided its 155 mm truck-mounted SH-15 howitzer gun to the Pakistan Army that are known to have deployed at several locations along the LoC, and in recent weeks there have been many videos doing the rounds on social media depicting the movement of these SH-15 howitzer guns in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir region.
Pakistan, in total, is known to have signed a contract for 236 SH-15s with the Chinese company, North Industries Group Corporation Limited (Norinco), and per the London-based Janes Defense magazine, the first batch was delivered in January 2022, shortly after which, it was showcased on Pakistan Day on March 23, 2022.
Now, all of the above are only the recent instances of China-Pakistan military cooperation which goes way back in time. China has also helped Pakistan set up munitions production facilities and upgrade the ordnance factory at Wah near Rawalpindi.
In 1990s, China sanctioned the licensed production of the MBT-2000 (Al-Khalid) tank which was basically a Chinese adaptation of the Russian T-90 Main Battle Tank (MBT).
In the naval domain, China has completed delivery of two of the eight Hangor-class submarine promised to Pakistan under the US$ 5 billion agreement. Based on China’s Type 039A/B Yuan-class submarines, these submarines are expected to enhance Pakistan Navy’s underwater capabilities in the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.
Other than that, China has also delivered four Zulfiqar-class or the F-22P frigates to Pakistan Navy that are based on an updated model of China’s Type 053H3.
In the aerial domain, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) is said to operate over 150 JF-17 ‘Thunder’ developed by China for Pakistan and produced jointly. Also, in 2021, Pakistan placed an order for 25 single-seat Chengdu J-10CEs, first batch of which was delivered in March 2022. Experts suggest that Pakistan intends to acquire up to 60 of these. These JF-17s and J-10CE warplanes are armed with Chinese-made missiles like SD-10 air-to-air missiles, etc.
The PAF has also acquired strike-capable Caihong and Wing Loong series of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) from China, which it has been using against India in the J&K region for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) purposes.
What Is China’s Endgame?
It is important to keep in mind that while China is worried by India’s rise as a potential geopolitical competitor, its real competition for global supremacy is with the United States (US), and when we look at China – Pakistan relations within that context, the $62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project is an important factor to consider when trying to gauge Beijing’s thinking.
The CPEC project is aimed at addressing China’s energy security needs by providing it a land corridor for transporting energy resources, thereby reducing its reliance on maritime routes passing through strategic choke points in the Indian Ocean, which as pointed out earlier, would come under threat in the event of a conflict with the US.
This land corridor passes through the Gilgit-Baltistan region in the PoJK which is claimed by India, and is therefore under risk of an eventuality of war between India and Pakistan. So, why would Beijing want to flare up tensions between India and Pakistan, considering that a war between the two countries could jeopardise its investments?
Perhaps, based on its armament industry’s capability to take care of Pakistan’s requirement for attrition in military stockpiles during wartime, Beijing is confident that it can make any conflict with Pakistan a prolonged and costly undertaking for India without any territorial gains to justify as tangible returns.
If that is the case, then is Beijing blind to the abysmal failures of the Pakistani military against insurgents in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions? Or, is it exactly these failures of the Pakistan military that Beijing has based its strategy on? Hold these questions in your mind, and keep reading.
For Pakistan, China’s utility is that of a strategic protection for its proxy war in India’s J&K region which the latter is able to provide by bringing to bear its huge comprehensive national power against India. So, when China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) indulged in belligerence along the LAC in the Eastern Ladakh sector in 2020, India was forced to divert its troops from J&K’s Jammu region to Ladakh, leaving the former vulnerable to Pakistan-sponsored militancy.
Experts suggest that because of having to deploy troops on two fronts, India was forced to exercise restraint in the face of increasing terror attacks inside the Jammu region as well as ceasefire violations by the Pakistani Border Action Teams (BATS).
For China, Pakistan acts as a proxy that keeps India engaged and bleeding on its western border. However, Pakistan’s utility is not limited to just that. Beijing also sees Pakistan as a gateway to the Persian Gulf region, access to which would be crucial in the event of a conflict with the US.
China has long wanted to establish a naval base in Pakistan’s port city of Gwadar to be able to project power in the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf region which will grant it the capability to threaten the US’ shipping and energy interests in West Asia (or the Middle East) as well as secure its alternative land route for energy imports that frees it from reliance on maritime routes in Southeast Asia.
However, all of this hinges upon the Pakistani establishment acquiescing to China’s demands/requests for militarizing Gwadar. There have been reports of Pakistan having privately promised China the access to Gwadar port for deployment of its military assets but is actually dragging its heels when it comes to delivering on this promise.
The Pakistani establishment finds itself in a tough situation having to strike a balance between maintaining its sovereignty as well as maintaining its relations with and secure investments from, China, which is critical to Pakistan’s economic survival and maybe even resurgence.
Beijing has also been asking Islamabad for allowance to deploy PLA troops for protection of Chinese interests inside Pakistan, which the latter had been refusing for a long time.
However, the increasing attacks on Chinese nationals by homegrown insurgents inside Pakistan and the failure of the Pakistani armed forces in containing these insurgents, compelled Islamabad to succumb to China’s pressure and greenlight the deployment of Chinese private security personnel inside Pakistan.
So far, 60 Chinese private security personnel from three Chinese companies – Dewe Security, Frontier Services Group, and Huaxin Zhongshan Security – are known to have been deployed in Pakistan’s Sindh province, to protect two CPEC power projects there. These Chinese personnel also have the authority to supervise Pakistani armed forces on-site.
Going by this turn of events entailing a significant shift in Islamabad’s stance on the issue of foreign PSCs operating inside Pakistani territory, Beijing could benefit significantly if the Pakistani military apparatus weakens further.
So, by flaring up tensions between India and Pakistan, Beijing could be looking to cut to size not just India but also Pakistan in order to gain increased military footprint along the entire stretch of CPEC corridor as well as expedite the grant of allowance from the Pakistani establishment to turn Gwadar port into a Chinese naval base.
If true, this would be a ‘high-risk high-reward’ strategy because there is never a sure way to predict how a military conflagration will unfold.
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