The conflict between India and Pakistan offered the world a first real glimpse into how advanced Chinese military technology performs against proven Western hardware – and Chinese defense stocks are already surging, CNN reported.

According to the international news agency, shares of China’s AVIC Chengdu Aircraft rose 40% this week, as Pakistan claimed it used AVIC-produced J-10C fighter jets to shoot down Indian combat aircraft – including the advanced French-made Rafale – during an aerial battle on Wednesday.

India has not responded to Pakistan’s claims or acknowledged any aircraft losses while China's foreign ministry said Thursday it was unaware of any involvement of Chinese fighter jets in the conflict. However, as Pakistan's primary arms supplier, Beijing is likely watching closely to assess the performance of its systems in active combat, CNN further reported.

China has not fought a major war in nearly 40 years. But under President Xi Jinping, it has dramatically modernized its military, investing heavily in advanced hardware, including AI-powered targeting systems, the news report added. This modernization extends to Pakistan, which China has long considered a close strategic ally. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, China supplied 81% of Pakistan’s arms over the past five years. These include fighter jets, missiles, radar systems, and air defenses—some of which are now produced in Pakistan using Chinese technology, according to CNN.

Sajjan Gohel, security director at the Asia-Pacific Foundation, noted that “any military confrontation between India and Pakistan would be a real testing ground for Chinese military exports.” In recent years, the Chinese and Pakistani militaries have held joint exercises across land, air, and sea, including combat drills and even “crew swaps.”

“Beijing’s long-standing support for Islamabad – through hardware, training, and now increasingly AI-enabled targeting – has quietly shifted the tactical balance,” CNN quoted Craig Singleton, a senior fellow at the US-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, as saying.

He added that this situation highlights the challenge Chinese systems pose to U.S. influence and shifts the regional power dynamic.

That shift – brought into sharp focus by rising tensions between India and Pakistan following a tourist massacre in Kashmir – underscores a broader geopolitical realignment in the region, where China has emerged as a major challenge to American influence, added CNN.

Any military confrontation between a Chinese-equipped Pakistan and an India backed by Western and Russian arms is effectively a showdown between Eastern and Western military technology, say experts.

Amid heightened tensions over the April 22 killing of 26 tourists in Kashmir, including one from Nepal, India launched missile strikes on what it described as “terrorist infrastructure” last Wednesday. Although the two sides on Saturday evening agreed for a ceasefire with immediate effect, the brief war offered a glimpse of the high-tech war using fighter jets, artillery and drones.

Analysts say India carried out the strikes by French Rafale and Russian Su-30 fighter jets.

In response, Pakistan claimed to have downed five Indian aircraft—including three Rafales, one Su-30, and one MiG-29—during a one-hour aerial battle involving up to 125 aircraft. According to CNN, Pakistan alleges the interceptions were carried out by Chinese-made J-10C fighters.

“(It) is now being characterized as the most intense air-to-air combat engagement between two nuclear-armed nations,” CNN quoted Salman Ali Bettani, an international relations scholar at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, as saying. “The engagement represented a milestone in the operational use of advanced Chinese-origin systems.”

India has not acknowledged any aircraft losses, and Pakistan has yet to provide evidence to support its claims. But a French Defense Ministry source said at least one of India’s newest and most-advanced warplanes – a French-made Rafale fighter jet – was lost in the battle, CNN added.

“If … confirmed, it indicates that the weapon systems at Pakistan’s disposal are, at the minimum, contemporary or current compared to what Western Europe (especially France) offers,” CNN quoted Bilal Khan, founder of Toronto-based defense analysis firm Quwa Group Inc, as saying.

The claim has ignited nationalist sentiment on Chinese social media and driven a rally in AVIC’s stock. According to CNN, the J-10C is the latest version of China’s single-engine, multirole J-10 fighter, which entered service with the Chinese air force in the early 2000s. Featuring better weapon systems and avionics, the J-10C is classified as a 4.5-generation fighter – in the same tier as the Rafale but a rung below 5th-generation stealth jets, like China’s J-20 or the US F-35.

Global Implications

The U.S. remains the world’s top arms exporter, with a 43% share between 2020 and 2024. China ranks fourth, with roughly two-thirds of its exports going to Pakistan.

“If Pakistan can credibly show that Chinese systems downed an aircraft like the Rafale, it would be a massive PR win for China and could drive up demand for its weapons in markets like the Middle East and Africa,” Khan reportedly told CNN.

According to CNN, experts in Pakistan and China say the J-10Cs deployed by the Pakistan Air Force are likely to have been paired with the PL-15, China’s most advanced air-to-air missile – which has a reported beyond-visual-range of 200-300 kilometers (120-190 miles).The Pakistan Air Force recently released a video showcasing the PL-15, describing it as a “powerful PAF strike.”

Antony Wong, a Macau-based military analyst, described the incident as a “major advertisement” for China’s defense industry. “It will force Western nations to take a closer look at the capabilities of Chinese military technology,” he told CNN. -- Agencies