Difficult to define Chinese state support to Pakistan, no unusual activity on northern border during Op Sindoor: CDS

Speaking at an event in Delhi on Tuesday, the CDS also stated that there was no unusual activity on the northern borders during the Operation Sindoor conflict with Pakistan on the country's western front.

"The first fact is that there was no unusual activity on the Northern Borders in the duration of this conflict (India-Pakistan tensions)," he said.

The CDS said that it is a fact that in the last five years, Pakistan has acquired almost 70% to 80% of its weapons and equipment from China.

"A reasonable assumption would be that Chinese as Original Equipment Manufacturers will have commercial liabilities which they have to fulfil and will have people in Pakistan," he said.

Gen Chauhan said that on the matter of information, India seeks information from open sources, satellite imagery and others.

"There are several Chinese companies also doing this with permission. How much state support is there is difficult to define in this process? Also difficult to define turning this information into intelligence," he said.

Gen Chauhan's statement comes at a time when, a few days ago, Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Rahul R Singh said that India was fighting three adversaries at a time, with China and Pakistan providing support to it, including sharing real-time satellite imagery with it.

"We had one border and two adversaries, actually three. Pakistan was in the front. China was providing all possible support. 81% of the military hardware with Pakistan is Chinese... China is able to test its weapons against other weapons, so it's like a live lab available to them. Turkey also played an important role in providing the type of support it did... When DGMO-level talks were on, Pakistan had the live updates of our important vectors, from China," he said.

The Deputy COAS emphasised the need for a robust air defence system to combat the China-Pak tango. (ANI)