China’s Strategic Gains Amid India-Pakistan Tensions: An Intelligence Windfall

Reading Time: 3 minutes As hostilities between India and Pakistan escalate, China appears to be strategically leveraging the situation to gather crucial intelligence and enhance its military preparedness. The intensification of military engagements in South Asia is creating a rare live battlefield laboratory for China, particularly through its alliance with Pakistan. This scenario reveals the intricate regional balance and the extent to which third-party powers stand to benefit from bilateral conflicts. A Real-Time Intelligence Laboratory The use of advanced military platforms during India-Pakistan clashes, including the deployment of French-built Dassault Rafale jets by India and Chinese-made J-10C fighters by Pakistan, has reportedly resulted in direct confrontations that provide valuable data for observers and stakeholders—especially China. Analysts speculate that China, through its cooperation with Pakistan, has access to post-mission data from the J-10C aircraft, which it manufactures and exports under close state control (TBS News, 2024). Moreover, this exchange presents China