Last week, the South China Morning Post confirmed what many strategic observers in India had long suspected: China provided on-site technical support to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor. Engineers from the Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute, which developed the J-10CE fighter aircraft purchased by Islamabad, reportedly worked to ensure the systems could "perform at their full combat potential" during combat operations.
This direct involvement likely allowed China to collect invaluable mission and combat data from Pakistani fighter aircraft and air defence systems supplied by Beijing. Analysts believe the conflict gave Chinese military planners a rare opportunity to observe how India's air defence network, including Russian-origin S-400 systems and indigenous assets, responded to Pakistani missile attacks.
At the same time, Beijing is studying the war involving Iran and the United States to assess American military strengths and vulnerabilities across a different operational environment. Chinese strategists are reportedly examining how advanced anti-missile systems such as Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense perform under sustained saturation attacks, and how the expenditure of costly interceptor missiles affects the United States' capacity to sustain a prolonged conflict.
Security experts told CNN that China has likely compiled a comprehensive list of observations from the past three months to prepare for potential future confrontations with the United States, particularly in a Taiwan-related scenario. These observations include command structures, force allocation, target acquisition methods, strike sequencing, and the compression of "kill chain" timelines through integration of satellite intelligence and artificial intelligence-enabled targeting systems such as the Maven Smart System.
Experts also believe China is assessing how the White House balances domestic political pressure with military objectives, while managing global energy disruptions and increasingly strained relations with European allies.
Operation Sindoor and the Iran conflict together have provided China with two distinct opportunities to evaluate modern warfare. The India-Pakistan confrontation enabled Beijing to test and refine weapons systems, radars, and combat aircraft in South Asia, while the Iran conflict offers a real-time demonstration of American strike doctrine and air defence performance under different geographical and operational conditions.
Both conflicts appear to revolve around a central strategic question for Beijing: how can modern air campaigns systematically degrade an adversary, and what is the most efficient way to achieve victory while minimising human and financial costs?
From an offensive standpoint, most defence analysts believe China is already in a strong position. Its missile and air power capabilities have expanded rapidly in recent years, supported by new missile research and manufacturing facilities and the deployment of hypersonic glide vehicles capable of evading conventional missile defences.
China is also accelerating production of fifth-generation J-20 stealth fighter aircraft and significantly expanding its nuclear arsenal. In June, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported that China has added approximately 100 nuclear warheads annually since 2023, the fastest growth rate of any country.
The Chinese navy has also undergone a dramatic transformation, evolving from a coastal defence force into a blue-water fleet that is widely regarded as the largest in the world by number of vessels.
Despite these advancements, Chinese military analysts remain focused on defensive vulnerabilities. Former Chinese Air Force Colonel Fu Qianshao told CNN that China must devote substantial effort to identifying weaknesses in its own air defence architecture to ensure it remains "invincible in future wars."
Iran's use of asymmetric warfare has provided particularly valuable lessons. Low-cost, mass-produced Shahed drones and inexpensive ballistic missiles repeatedly challenged American and allied air defence systems, targeting military and energy infrastructure. Chinese planners are believed to be studying how such economically efficient weapons can impose disproportionate costs on technologically superior opponents.
Beijing has also noted the United States' deployment of the Low-Cost Unmanned Combat Attack System, a relatively inexpensive drone platform comparable in concept to the Shahed series.
According to Fu Qianshao, the broad range of American targets in Iran, including steel plants, bridges, energy facilities, and military assets, offers important insights into strategic targeting priorities during modern air campaigns.
Artificial intelligence remains central to these lessons. China is reportedly pursuing systems capable of autonomous target selection and real-time analysis of multiple intelligence feeds, similar to the Maven Smart System used by the United States.
Dennis Wilder, a former official with the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council, told the South China Morning Post that China's military will closely study these developments, asking whether such operational methods are practical and effective for Chinese forces.
Closer to home, Operation Sindoor gave China a unique opportunity to observe how India's developing "Sudarshan Chakra" missile defence architecture responded to hostile missile attacks. The system is designed as a multi-layered defensive framework integrating missile interception capabilities, advanced surveillance, and cyber protection, drawing comparisons with Israel's Iron Dome.
In modern warfare, air defence systems represent the first and most critical barrier against enemy attack. China is therefore examining two of the world's most sophisticated missile defence platforms: the American Patriot system observed in the Iran conflict and the Russian S-400 system deployed by India.
These observations are closely linked to Beijing's long-standing focus on Taiwan. President Xi Jinping has never ruled out the use of military force to bring the island under Chinese control.
Taiwanese security analysts told CNN that China is building a military force capable of combining the United States' precision strike capabilities with Iran's low-cost, high-volume warfare model.
In any future conflict over Taiwan, China must assume that the United States will act on its legal commitment to help Taiwan maintain its self-defence capabilities. Although American foreign policy under President Donald Trump has at times appeared unpredictable, recent remarks by Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasising the need for regional stability suggest Washington would seek to counter any Chinese military action.
The United States already maintains significant military assets in the Indo-Pacific, including Patriot missile batteries, although some of these systems could be redeployed to the Middle East to compensate for losses sustained during the Iran conflict.
China is also watching Iran because of the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic maritime chokepoint through which 33 to 37 per cent of China's oil imports pass. Chinese strategists understand that any military campaign against Taiwan would need to achieve decisive results quickly, before the conflict evolves into a prolonged war of attrition.
The simultaneous study of Operation Sindoor and the Iran conflict underscores China's determination to refine every aspect of modern warfare. By analysing missile defence performance, artificial intelligence-driven targeting, low-cost drone warfare, and American strike doctrine, Beijing is preparing for future conflicts in which speed, precision, and cost efficiency may determine the outcome.
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