Mysuru: Senior journalist Vishnu Som of a national news channel has claimed that China used Pakistan as a testing ground to evaluate the performance of its fourth-generation fighter jets in the wake of India’s Operation Sindoor military campaign.

Speaking at a session on Day-1 of the two-day 9th edition of the Mysuru Literature Festival, organised by the Mysuru Literary Forum Charitable Trust and Mysuru Book Clubs Charitable Trust at Hotel Southern Star in city yesterday, Som explored the regional strategic landscape in a talk titled ‘Operation Sindoor and Escalation Matrix: How Close Were India and Pakistan to Full-Blown War?’

Som stated that China’s military capabilities should not be underestimated, adding that Beijing poses a significant strategic challenge to India. He revealed that China has reportedly used Pakistan as an experimental platform to assess the effectiveness of its advanced fighter jets and missile systems, monitoring data to gauge their operational efficiency and also India’s military responses.

“China has not only deployed its weaponry through Pakistan but is also studying India’s reactions as part of a larger strategic assessment,” he said.

Refuting any notion that India considers Chinese weapons to have failed in Pakistan, Som clarified, “I don’t think the Indian Army holds such assumptions.” He stressed that evaluating the competence of operators handling Chinese weapons in Pakistan is crucial. “If these systems were managed by poorly trained personnel, their true effectiveness may not have been realised. India must factor in that dimension,” he added.

Earlier in the session, senior journalist Shiv Aroor cautioned against dismissing Chinese weaponry too hastily. “We are too quick to declare that China’s weapons have failed. That’s not accurate,” he said, urging for a more nuanced understanding.

“Not all of China’s weapons are junk. Some may be, but certainly not all,” Aroor remarked. He referred to a speech by the Deputy Chief of the Indian Army delivered a day earlier, which had noted that Pakistan was essentially being used as a weapons testing laboratory by China. Following this, Shiv Aroor posed the critical question: “How reliable and high-quality are China’s weapons?”