US body says Beijing launched fake news against Rafale – Firstpost

A commission of the US Congress has given a green signal to China’s disinformation campaign regarding Rafale fighter planes during Operation Vermillion.

In its annual report for 2025, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission said China used fake social media accounts for a disinformation campaign to hinder the sale of French Rafale fighter planes and promote the sale of its own J-35 fighter jets.

The report said that China promoted its disinformation campaign through artificial intelligence (AI).

“Following the India-Pakistan border crisis in May 2025, China launched a disinformation campaign to hamper the sale of French Rafale aircraft in favor of its own J-35s, using fake social media accounts to publicize AI images of purported ‘wreckage’ of aircraft destroyed by Chinese weapons,” the report said.

In the early hours of 7 May, India launched Operation Sindoor and attacked terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK). As Pakistan responded with attacks on Indian cities and military sites, India retaliated and fighting between the two sides continued for the next days.

The fighting – which ended in a ceasefire on 10 May – caused severe damage to several Pakistani air bases and destroyed its airstrips, air defense systems, radar sites and other infrastructure.

The India–Pakistan conflict also became one between India and China as Pakistan has become extensively armed by China in recent years. Pakistan used Chinese JF-17 and J-10 fighter planes along with Chinese missile PL-15 against India. China resorted to a disinformation campaign to prove that its equipment – ​​such as the J-35 which Pakistan does not yet possess – was superior to India’s equipment.

Earlier, US-based military expert John Spencer had said that India won the technology war in Operation Sindoor and Pakistan, as China’s proxy, lost.

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