US Report Claims China Used Disinformation to Undermine French Aircraft Sales After India-Pakistan Conflict

A new assessment by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission alleges that China launched a coordinated disinformation campaign following the India-Pakistan border crisis in May 2025, specifically targeting sales of French Rafale fighter jets to promote its own J-35 aircraft instead.

According to the report released Wednesday, Chinese operatives employed fake social media accounts to circulate AI-generated images purportedly showing debris from French Rafale aircraft destroyed by Chinese weaponry. The apparent goal was to cast doubt on the effectiveness of the French fighters and position China’s J-35s as superior alternatives.

The assessment claims these efforts yielded tangible results, stating that “Chinese Embassy officials convinced Indonesia to halt a purchase of Rafale jets already in process,” effectively advancing “China’s inroads into other regional actors’ military procurements.” This represents a significant disruption in Indonesia’s defense acquisition plans and suggests China’s growing influence in shaping the regional arms market.

The report also documents an intensifying defense relationship between China and Pakistan in recent months. Between November and December 2024, the two nations conducted the three-week Warrior-VIII counterterrorism exercises. In February 2025, China’s Navy participated in Pakistan’s multinational AMAN naval drills, which the report characterized as evidence of “growing defense cooperation” between the two countries.

By June 2025, China reportedly offered to sell Pakistan a substantial military package including 40 J-35 fifth-generation fighter jets, KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft, and ballistic missile defense systems. This offer came as Pakistan announced a 20 percent increase in its 2025-2026 defense budget, raising planned expenditures to $9 billion despite broader budget cuts in other sectors.

The timing of this assessment coincides with recent comments from U.S. President Donald Trump, who reiterated during a bilateral meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that he had “stopped eight wars” during his presidency, including preventing conflict between India and Pakistan.

“We’ve done a lot of good with this office. I’ve stopped eight wars,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We stopped India and Pakistan. I could go through the list. I’m very proud.”

Trump has repeatedly claimed that he used trade tariffs as leverage to prevent a potential large-scale conflict between the two nuclear powers, stating his intervention “settled” the conflict within 24 hours. The Indian government has previously denied these assertions.

The border tensions Trump referenced followed India’s precision strikes on Pakistani terrorist camps under “Operation Sindoor” in May 2025, which India launched in response to the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir that resulted in 26 casualties.

Just last month, Trump made similar claims about his role in de-escalating the situation. “I got it done (ceasefire). There are others. If you look at India and Pakistan, I could say almost any one of the deals that I’ve already done I thought would have been more difficult than Russia and Ukraine, but it didn’t work out that way,” he said during an interaction with journalists aboard Air Force One.

The U.S. assessment highlights growing concerns about China’s expanding influence in South Asia’s security landscape and its willingness to employ disinformation tactics to advance military and economic objectives. These developments occur against the backdrop of increasing strategic competition between the United States and China throughout the Indo-Pacific region.