Director-General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry praised the performance of Chinese-made weapons systems used during its four-day clash with India in May this year, saying they performed “exceptionally well.” \u201cOf course, lately, recent Chinese platforms, they\u2019ve demonstrated exceptionally well, \u201d Lt Gen Chaudhry said in an interview last week from Islamabad. “We are open to all sorts of technology,\u201d he added. The May clash saw Pakistan\u2019s first major use of modern Chinese-made systems, including J-10C fighters that Islamabad credited with downing multiple Indian aircraft, among them French-made Rafales. The systems\u2019 performance has drawn intense scrutiny since the conflict. The DG ISPR said Pakistan had recently raised its tally of Indian aircraft shot down to seven, up from a previous count of six, and matching the figure floated last week by President Donald Trump, who told an audience in Virginia, \u201cthey just shot down seven planes,\u201d but did not specify which side did so. A spokesperson for India\u2019s Ministry of Defence didn\u2019t directly address the new claim, and instead referred to a Friday speech by India\u2019s Air Force chief in which he claimed India allegedly destroyed about a dozen Pakistani aircraft during the conflict. The DG ISPR said in his interview that Pakistan didn\u2019t lose any planes. \u201cPakistan has never tried to play with figures and facts,\u201d he said. In August, Pakistan announced the addition to its arsenal of the Z-10ME attack helicopter, a model similar to the one China uses to patrol its border with India. Last month, President Asif Ali Zardari travelled to the Chinese city of Chengdu, where he visited the defence company that makes the J-10 fighter jet. The ISPR chief declined to say whether Pakistan would keep favouring Chinese arms, noting the country buys equipment from both China and Western nations. \u201cOur development strategy has always been to induct the most effective, efficient as well as economic platforms and technology,\u201d he said. Pakistan is not in a military catch-up or an arms race with India, he said, adding that it has a military budget \u201ca fraction\u201d the size of its neighbour\u2019s. \u201cWe don\u2019t have the luxury of unlimited money at our disposal,\u201d he said. Pakistan allocated $10.2 billion to defence spending last year, compared with $86.1 billion for India, according to SIPRI. As a share of each country\u2019s GDP, however, their defence spending was roughly equal, 2.7% for Pakistan and 2.3% for India.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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