China ran disinformation campaign about Rafale after Sindoor: US report

China used morphed images and other tactics to run a disinformation campaign against Rafale aircraft during India’s Operation Sindoor military clash against Pakistan in May, seeking to hinder the French jet’s sales, the US Congress was told earlier this week.

The campaign tried to push a narrative that “only three jets flown by India’s military were reportedly downed and all may not have been Rafales,” according to The Print, an Indian news website which quoted an annual report of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC).

“In the weeks after the conflict, Chinese embassies hailed the successes of their systems in the India-Pakistan clash, seeking to bolster weapons sales. Pakistan’s use of Chinese weapons to down French Rafale fighter jets used by India also became a particular selling point for Chinese Embassy defence sales efforts, despite the fact that only three jets flown by India’s military were reportedly downed and all may not have been Rafales,” said the USCC report without elaborating what happened during the clash.

“According to French intelligence, China initiated a disinformation campaign to hinder sales of French Rafales in favour of its own J-35s, and it used fake social media accounts to propagate AI and video game images of supposed ‘debris’ from the planes China’s weaponry destroyed.”

  After Operation Sindoor, Pakistan repeatedly claimed it had shot down several Rafale fighter jets of India. New Delhi has not published a list of lost equipment and says Sindoor is still ongoing, though it has acknowledged some “losses”. India has rejected Islamabad’s claim that six Indian jets had been downed, according to The Print.

According to USCC, China pressed Indonesia to stop its planned purchase of 42 Rafale aircraft, deliveries for which are scheduled to begin next year. Indonesia confirmed last month that it still plans to receive Rafales, while also exploring the purchase of Chinese J-10C fighter jets to expand its military fleet.

Chinese support for Pakistan’s military goes beyond being its main arms supplier. Reports say that Beijing provided real-time intelligence to Islamabad during Operation Sindoor May 7-10, stated The Print.

The USCC, created by the US Congress in October 2000, is responsible for monitoring and assessing the national security impact of US–China trade and economic relations. It submits an annual report of its findings to Congress.

India-China calm is more symbolic than real

The Print, while quoting the US commission’s report, said that while India and China have made many public announcements about improving relations over the past year, these statements have come with “few specifics or follow-ups”.

The Commission report said: “Throughout 2025, high-level meetings took place between China and India as both sought to de-escalate tensions…. While the October 2024 China-India border patrolling agreement yielded a short-term thaw in tensions, both sides continued militarising the border in early 2025, building new airbases and shoring up positions along the LAC and near Arunachal Pradesh.”

“As of September 2025, though, the terms of economic cooperation or border resolution agreements were largely conceptual, with few specifics or follow-ups announced by either side,” added the US report.

India-China relations deteriorated after the Galwan clashes in mid-2020. India has consistently stated that peace on the border is essential before other areas of the relationship can progress, stated The Print.

Further adding that in October 2024, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri announced an agreement for disengagement at all friction points along the LAC. This enabled Prime Minister Narendra Modi to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping during the BRICS Summit in Kazan that year.

In August 2025, PM Modi travelled to Tianjin for the SCO Heads of State Summit, where he also held bilateral talks with Xi Jinping. His visit came at a time when India’s ties with the US were strained after Washington imposed 50% tariffs on Indian goods.

Over the past year, both India and China have taken steps to expand economic cooperation. For instance, China issued export licences to at least four Indian companies for magnet exports.

The US Commission report observed that “It remains to be seen whether China’s and India’s 2025 commitments are a short-term function of India’s desire to hedge against tumult in trade negotiations with the United States or are a long-term shift toward normalisation in bilateral relations”, stated The Print.

One sign of improving ties appeared when India criticised the US for the first time this year over its support for Israel in the Joint Declaration at the conclusion of the SCO Summit. The declaration also condemned the terrorist attack in Pahalgam earlier this year, which can be seen as an important diplomatic outcome for India, according to The Print report.

Led by China, which currently heads the SCO, the declaration was a moment in which India, China, and Russia presented a “united front”. It also showed their readiness to compromise, the US Commission report noted.

“The three countries signed on to a declaration condemning the US and Israeli bombing of Iran and the ‘actions that have led to… a catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip,’…The declaration also condemned the 2025 Pahalgam terrorist attack that India attributes to Pakistan, a symbolically important gesture for India,” the Commission said.