Page Reader AI | Why a Pakistan-India war would be a Chinese vs Western arms proving ground

Why a Pakistan-India war would be a Chinese vs Western arms proving ground | South China Morning Post

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Summary of the Article

The article discusses the potential for a war between Pakistan and India, highlighting the implications for global military technology. A conflict would pit Pakistan's Chinese-made weaponry against India's arsenal of French, Russian, and domestically produced military equipment. This situation is being closely watched due to the intense geopolitical competition between China and the US in the Indo-Pacific.

Key Points

The recent deadly terrorist attack in Kashmir escalated tensions between India and Pakistan.
Pakistan has showcased its Chinese weapons in military exercises.
India's Prime Minister Modi granted the military operational freedom to respond to the attack.
The October 2023 agreement between India and China regarding their border dispute might influence the situation.
A war between India and Pakistan would allow global military planners to analyze the performance of various weapons systems.

The article emphasizes the potential for this conflict to be viewed as a real-world test of military hardware from different sources, impacting national defense strategies worldwide.

Pakistan’s arsenal of Chinese-made and jointly developed weapons could clash with India’s mix of French, Russian and domestically produced military hardware amid rising warnings of an “imminent” conflict between the South Asian rivals.

China, the US and the rest of the international community have expressed hopes that tensions between the nuclear-armed adversaries will not escalate into a full-blown war. Still, many observers are closely monitoring a potential first-ever confrontation between Chinese military assets and Nato-standard weaponry.

Should war break out between Pakistan and India, the performance of their weapons would be closely analysed by military planners around the world, and lessons integrated into national defence strategies – particularly in the Indo-Pacific strategic theatre, where China and the US are engaged in a fierce geopolitical competition.

Since tensions between the South Asian nations escalated suddenly last week, following a deadly terrorist attack in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir, Islamabad has flaunted its Chinese weapons in military exercises meant to deter an Indian attack, showcasing them on social media channels.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday he had given the Indian military “operational freedom” to respond to the attack in Kashmir, according to a senior government source. Modi also said India had a “national resolve to deal a crushing blow to terrorism”, the source told Agence France-Presse.

Indian politicians and media hawks have amplified their rhetoric, analysts say, in part because New Delhi and Beijing only reached an agreement in October to resolve their 2020 Himalayan border clash.

In a conflict, the armed forces of India and Pakistan would use their arsenals to establish “escalation dominance” – essentially, who can hit the other harder – to set the future tone of their bitter relationship.