In response to reports that India and Pakistan have agreed to a tenuous ceasefire following several days of intense military conflict between both nuclear-armed nations last week, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed support for the ceasefire, commenting that it “serves the fundamental and long-term interests of both countries [and] contributes to regional peace and stability." Tensions ignited last month when militants, whom the Indian government claimed were supported by Pakistan, killed 26 tourists, mostly Hindus, in Indian-controlled Kashmir. The Indian government then struck what it called “terrorist infrastructure” in parts of Pakistan and Pakistan-administered areas of Kashmir, leading the Pakistani government to respond with its own strikes inside India. Dozens of soldiers and civilians on both sides were killed, and both India and Pakistan claimed victory.

However, the real winner might be China’s military-industrial complex, according to some analysts and Chinese nationalists. Pakistan’s government claimed to have shot down three of India’s new French-made Rafale jets (at least one was confirmed) using Chinese-made J-10C fighter jets. Over 80 percent of Pakistan’s military equipment comes from China, while India’s military is increasingly reliant on Western countries. The conflict seemed to give Chinese weapons a significant boost in credibility, with the Chinese manufacturer of the J-10 announcing that its shares had risen by over 40 percent in two days. “There’s no better advertisement than a real combat situation … This came as a pleasant surprise for China … the result is quite striking,” Yun Sun from the Stimson Center told the Financial Times. Eric Olander at the China-Global South Project noted that some analysts described this as China’s “DeepSeek Moment” for military technology:

There was a palpable sense of euphoria in China this weekend as Chinese-made J-10C and JF-17 fighter jets saw combat for the first time over the disputed Kashmir region — and performed impressively.

The J-10C’s successful use of electronic jamming and reports of downing several Indian Air Force Rafale jets (the exact number remains disputed) were widely celebrated in Chinese media. Many likened the moment to another "DeepSeek Moment" — a reference to China’s growing confidence in its domestically developed technologies.

But beneath the excitement was also a deep sense of relief. These jets had never been tested in actual combat, and despite public bravado, few could say with certainty how they’d perform under pressure.

[…] Now, it appears China has succeeded — and the world should take note. [Source]

On Weibo, the hashtag “US officials claim J-10 shot down at least two Indian warplanes” attracted over 35 million views, and state-affiliated media published promotional content about the Chinese aircraft. Perhaps the most notable example of nationalism to emerge from the Chinese internet was a viral video by a Chinese influencer “Brother Hao” mocking India’s downed military jets, featuring Chinese actors dressed up in Indian costumes singing along to a remix of the Indian song “Tunak Tunak Tun.” Yuanyue Dang reported for the South China Morning Post:

The minute-long parody video, which has even gone viral overseas, has fuelled a new wave of nationalist fervour in China. Similar videos have appeared on Pakistani social media, while Indian social media users expressed anger.

The video is the latest celebration among Chinese netizens over the performance of the J-10C fighter jet in last week’s India-Pakistan conflict, although Beijing has remained cautious about commenting on the issue.

[…] “Brother Hao” has nearly 16 million followers on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, and is known for creating videos in which he adapts songs from other ethnic groups and imitates people from those cultures, including Indians and Arabs.

The influencer is no stranger to controversy. His parody videos often show him wearing Indian clothing, sporting a small moustache and painting his face brown, with frequent references to “curry”. In 2023, an Indian TV channel accused him of racism.

Some people have expressed concern that the video could harm China-India relations, but nationalist influencers have defended the content creator. [Source]

While the majority of comments under Chinese social-media posts sharing Brother Hao’s video were supportive, some criticized the video as being racist. CDT Chinese editors published a compilation of some of these critical comments, which referenced past incidents of double standards applied to Chinese citizens’ tolerance of discrimination. Some examples include the recurrent blackface skits aired on CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala, racist fan encounters during iShowSpeed’s recent China tour, and nationalist deflections of Chinese-commissioned African “shout-out” videos. The CDT Chinese article about the Brother Hao video analyzed some of the dualities surrounding racial and ethnic discrimination in China. One netizen comment referenced online speculation about whether Ms. Dong, a trainee doctor involved in the recent “4+4” medical scandal, benefited from nepotism in her career by being born into a family of "Beijing Brahmins"—in other words, a well-educated and well-connected family:

Some netizens have commented that Chinese people exhibit both hypersensitivity to racial discrimination (when accusing others of insulting China) and extreme insensitivity (when casually insulting others). "They are outraged when others racially discriminate against them," wrote one, "yet take unmitigated glee in racially discriminating against others". […] Of course, many Chinese also expressed strong criticism of Brother Hao’s video. As one said, "This willingness to resort to anything just to generate online hype is a disgrace to all Chinese people." Another wrote, "If the shoe were on the other foot, would Chinese people be considered the victims of racism, or just hypersensitive?" One netizen observed sharply: "We ourselves are guilty of dividing people into hierarchies. Just last week, we were talking about whether Miss Dong had been born into a family of ‘Beijing Brahmins,’ but now we’re suddenly finding some kind of ethnic cohesion in insulting Indians." [Chinese]

The India-Pakistan conflict also revealed certain similarities between those countries and China when it comes to media control. Jon Allsop at the Columbia Journalism Review wrote about the “fog of war” resulting from both governments trying to control the narrative. The Indian government blocked thousands of social media accounts belonging to prominent figures and media outlets, removed Pakistani audio-video content from platforms, blocked news websites, and arrested journalists who reported critically on the conflict. The Pakistani government, ironically, lifted a long-standing ban on the social-media platform X in order to enlist its citizens in the battle to control the global narrative. Government-backed disinformation has been propagated by both sides. (All of these media censorship tactics are common in China.)

Other pieces highlighted the narrative front of the conflict. Global Voices provided an analysis of the narratives regarding Kashmir. And the Eye on China Substack, produced by the Takshashila Institution, a research think tank based out of Bengaluru, India, argued in a recent article that the Chinese government’s public messaging during the conflict expressed implicit support for Pakistan. The author, Anushka Saxena, stated that coverage by Xinhua and CCTV was notably similar to that of Pakistani media. She also noted that Chinese military analysts had eagerly written that a hot war would be an opportunity to test all of the “Made in China” defence products acquired by Pakistan’s military.