China mounted an online disinformation campaign following the May 2025 India-Pakistan border standoff to undermine sales of French Rafale fighter jets and to promote its own J-35 fighters, according to a report submitted to the US Congress by the US–China Economic and Security Review Commission.

According to the report, Beijing deployed fake social-media accounts to push AI-generated images depicting supposed debris from Rafale jets allegedly downed by Chinese-supplied weaponry during the conflict. French intelligence, as cited in the document, assessed that the campaign sought to discredit the Rafale platform and tilt regional buyers toward the fifth-generation J-35.

Regional influence push

The influence operation reportedly extended beyond India. Chinese embassy officials “convinced I

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