RAWALPINDI: Pakistan hailed the Chinese weapons systems it deployed during its four-day clash with India in May as performing “exceptionally well”, in the latest endorsement of the Beijing-made arms that comprise the bulk of Islamabad’s recent purchases.
“We are open to all sorts of technology,” Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said in an interview with international publication Bloomberg. “Of course, recent Chinese platforms, they’ve demonstrated exceptionally well.”
The May clash saw Pakistan’s first major use of modern Chinese-made systems, including J-10C fighters that Islamabad credited with downing multiple Indian aircraft, among them French-made Rafales. The systems’ performance has drawn intense scrutiny since the conflict.
Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, military spokesman, said Pakistan had recently raised its tally of Indian aircraft shot down to seven — up from a previous count of six, and matching the figure floated last week by President Donald Trump, who told an audience in Virginia “they just shot down seven planes”.
A spokesman for India’s Ministry of Defence didn’t directly address the new claim, and instead referred to a latest speech by India’s Air Force chief in which he claimed India allegedly destroyed about a dozen Pakistani aircraft during the conflict. New Delhi had previously rejected Pakistan’s earlier claim that India lost six aircraft, although it acknowledged in May that an unspecified number were downed.
The DG ISPR said in his interview that Pakistan didn’t lose any planes. “Pakistan has never tried to play with figures and facts,” Chaudhry said.
Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif told Bloomberg that Pakistan’s defence approach is guided by a desire for technological efficiency and operational effectiveness rather than rivalry.
“Our military development strategy has always been to incorporate effective and efficient platforms and domestic Pakistani technology,” he said.
In August, Pakistan announced the addition to its arsenal of the Z-10ME attack helicopter — a model similar to the one China uses to patrol its border with India.
Last month, President Asif Ali Zardari travelled to the Chinese city of Chengdu where he visited the defence company that makes the J-10 fighter jet.
During the interview, the ISPR chief declined to say whether Pakistan would keep favouring Chinese arms, noting the country buys equipment from both China and Western nations.
“Our development strategy has always been to induct the most effective, efficient as well as economic platforms and technology,” he said.
Pakistan “is not in a military catch-up or an arms race” with India, he said, adding that it has a military budget “a fraction” the size of its neighbour’s. “We don’t have the luxury of unlimited money at our disposal,” he said.
Pakistan allocated $10.2 billion to defence spending last year, compared with $86.1 billion for India, according to SIPRI. As a share of each country’s GDP, however, their defence spending was roughly equal — 2.7 percent for Pakistan and 2.3 percent for India.
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