India raps China for backing Pakistan during Operation Sindoor

Responding to media queries, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said recent reports corroborated what India had already known. “Operation Sindoor was a precise, targeted and calibrated response to the terrorist attack in Pahalgam. It was aimed at destroying state-sponsored terrorist infrastructure operating out of Pakistan and at its behest,” Jaiswal said.

“It is for the nations who consider themselves responsible to reflect whether supporting attempts to protect terrorist infrastructure affects their reputation and standing,” the MEA spokesperson said, in remarks apparently directed at China.

The statement comes days after Chinese state media effectively confirmed that Beijing had provided on-site technical assistance to Pakistan during the four-day conflict with India last year.

China’s state broadcaster CCTV recently aired an interview with Zhang Heng, an engineer associated with the Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute under the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), a major Chinese defence manufacturer. During the interview, Zhang acknowledged that he had been part of a team providing technical support to Pakistan during the conflict.

Pakistan’s Air Force operates Chinese-origin J-10CE fighter aircraft manufactured by AVIC subsidiaries. In the interview, Zhang described working under combat conditions at a support base amid fighter jet operations and air raid sirens, while emphasising efforts to ensure Chinese military equipment performed at “full combat potential”.

The development assumes significance because India’s military leadership had earlier openly spoken about China-Pakistan collusion during the conflict, including Beijing’s role in supplying weapons systems, missiles, satellite imagery and technological support to Islamabad.

Operation Sindoor was launched by India following the Pahalgam terror attack and targeted terrorist infrastructure across the border in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Indian officials have consistently maintained that the operation was calibrated, precise and focused exclusively on terror-linked facilities.