The recent Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting held in Qingdao, China, on June 25-26, 2025, once again exposed the deepening strategic nexus between China and Pakistan—and their growing antagonism towards India. The meeting concluded without a joint communiqué after India refused to endorse a final statement that excluded any reference to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which killed 26 innocent civilians. New Delhi had insisted on including the attack, which was claimed by The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba. However, Pakistan, with China’s tacit backing, blocked any mention of it—mirroring an earlier episode at the United Nations Security Council on April 30, where Pakistan and China successfully lobbied to remove TRF’s name from an official UNSC statement. Despite credible intelligence linking TRF to the attack, and the group itself claiming responsibility via a social media post, the final UNSC statement was deliberately diluted. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, even publicly admitted that Islamabad had pushed for the exclusion of TRF’s name—an act that indirectly confirms Pakistan’s awareness and complicity of the group’s involvement.

These actions reveal a deliberate and coordinated strategy by China and Pakistan, with Beijing actively shielding Islamabad—a state sponsor of terrorism against India—from international accountability. By obstructing efforts to address cross-border terrorism and weakening multilateral counterterrorism mechanisms, they pose a direct threat to India’s national security and diplomatic interests.

China’s military support for Pakistan extends far beyond diplomacy. Since at least 2018, Beijing has been sharing real-time satellite-based ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) data with Islamabad. China has integrated its ISR networks with Pakistan’s, deploying defence satellites and assisting in reorganising Pakistan’s radar and air defence systems. During Operation Sindoor in May 2025—launched in the aftermath of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack—China not only supplied intelligence on Indian targets but also reportedly helped redeploy Pakistan’s radar coverage to better monitor Indian military movements.

According to strategic analyst Iqbal Chand Malhotra, this joint ISR and missile cooperation “underscores a calculated shift toward integrated defence coordination to counter India", reaffirming that China views Pakistan as an extension of its strategic depth.

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif confirmed the intelligence-sharing arrangement, calling it “very........

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