The Chinese military on Monday denied reports that its largest military cargo plane had supplied weapons to Pakistan. Along with this, China has also warned of legal action against those spreading such rumors.
The People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAF) has denied that its Xi’an Y-20 Chinese military transport aircraft carried supplies to Pakistan. A report on the official website of the Chinese Defence Ministry on Monday said that a large amount of information on social media about the Y-20 delivering relief materials to Pakistan is completely false. The PLAF also posted several screenshots of pictures and text sharing false information.
According to a recent report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), China has emerged as the largest arms supplier to Pakistan, accounting for 81 per cent of the Chinese all-weather ally’s arms purchases from 2020 to 2024. The purchases included the latest jet fighters, radars, naval ships, submarines and missiles. The two countries jointly manufacture the J-17 aircraft, which is the mainstay of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF).
India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ on May 7 to destroy nine terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack. A day later, major strikes were carried out on several Pakistani airbases, virtually crippling Pakistan’s ability to retaliate.
While China’s official media here gave much publicity to reports of claims of shooting down Pakistani aircraft, the enormity of the Indian Air Force’s strikes on nine terror camps inside Pakistan and subsequent attacks on radar systems and airbases also came as a surprise in Beijing.
