Paris (AP)-China has used its embassies to spread doubts about the performance of French-made Rafale-Jets After they saw fights in India and Pakistan in May, have French military and intelligence officers concluded that Beijing implies in an attempt.
The findings of a French intelligence service that is seen by the Associated Press say that the defense in the foreign embassies of China has led to an indictment to undermine the sale of Rafale, who wanted to convince countries that the French-made hunter have already ordered-in particular to choose Indonesia to argue for other potential buyers. The findings were shared with AP by a French military officer on condition that the civil servant and the intelligence service are not mentioned.
Four days of India-Pakistan collisions in May were the most serious confrontation in years between the two nuclear armed neighbors, and include airfights involving dozens of aircraft from both sides. Military officers and researchers have since been digging for details about how the Chinese military hardware of Pakistan-in particular war aircraft and Aircombatraketten did against weapons that India used in air strikes on Pakistani goals, in particular French Rafale hunters.
The sale of Rafales and other armament is large companies for the French defense industry and help the efforts of the government in Paris to strengthen ties with other countries, including in Asia, where China becomes the dominant regional power.
France fights against what it calls a disinformation campaign against the Rafale
Pakistan claimed that his Air Force defeated five Indian aircraft during the fighting, including three Rafales. French officials say that this has asked questions about their performance from countries that De Jager bought from the French manufacturer Dassault Aviation.
India recognized aircraft losses but did not say how much. The French Air Force Chief Gen. Jérôme Bellanger said he has seen evidence that points to only 3 Indian losses-a Rafale, a Russian made Sukhoi and a Mirage 2000, an earlier generation of French made jet. It was the first known battle loss of a Rafale that France sold to eight countries.
“Of course all those, the nations that Rafales bought, asked questions,” said Bellanger.
French officials fought to protect the plane against reputation damage, which reduces what they claim was a joint campaign of Rafale-Bashing and disinformation Online from Pakistan and his ally China.
They say that the Viral Messages campaign on social media included, manipulated images with supposed Rafale debris, AI-generated content and images for video games to simulate supposed fights. More than 1,000 social media accounts that were made new when the collisions of India-Pakistan broke out, also spread a story of Chinese technological superiority, according to French researchers who specialize in online disinformation.
French military officials say that they have not been able to link the online Rafale bashing directly to the Chinese government.
Intelligence assessment says that Chinese officials lobby potential customers to dump French aircraft
But the French intelligence service said that the Chinese embassy defense confirmed to the same story in meetings they had held with security and defense officials from other countries, with the argument that the Indian Air Force performed poorly and the Chinese promoted weapons.
The defense confirms their lobbying to countries that have ordered Rafales and other potential customer layers that consider purchases, the intelligence service said. It said that French officials heard of the meetings of Nations that were approached.
Asked by AP to comment on the alleged effort for the appeal of the Rafale in Duken, said the Ministry of National Defense in Beijing: “The relevant claims are purely unfounded rumors and slander. China has consistently held a cautious and responsible approach to military exports, a constructive role in regionale and stability.”
In recent years, China has performed disinformation campaigns on global social media platforms such as X, Instagram or Facebook, with the help of networks of influencers sponsored by the state, sites that occur as news organizations and fake-social media accounts to spread stories from Beijing.
The French Ministry of Defense said that the Rafale was the target of “a huge campaign of disinformation” that “tried to promote the superiority of alternative equipment, in particular of Chinese design.”
France regards the Jet as a 'strategic French offer'
“The Rafale was not randomly focused. It is a very capable fighter jet, exported abroad and is used in a theater with a highly visible theater,” wrote the Ministry of Defense on its website.
“The Rafale was also the target because it represents a strategic French offer. By attacking the plane, certain actors wanted to undermine the credibility of France and its defense and technological basis. The disinformation campaign was therefore not only focused on an airplane, but broader a national image of strategic reliability and solid.”
Dassault Aviation has sold 533 Rafales, including 323 for export to Egypt, India, Qatar, Greece, Croatia, the United Arab Emirates, Serbia and Indonesia. Indonesia has ordered 42 aircraft and is considering buying more.
China may hope to weaken the security relationships that France builds with Asian countries by spreading worries about the equipment it delivers, said Justin Bronk, an AirPower specialist at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank for defense and safety in London.
“From a point of view of limiting the influence of Western countries in the Indo-Pacific, it would be logical that China would be the performance of Pakistani weapon systems or at least alleged performance-in the fall of at least one raafale as an aid to undermine the attractiveness of attractiveness,” he said.
“They certainly saw an opportunity to damage the French sales perspectives in the region.”
