Until now, China had no opportunity to test its platforms in a combat situation," Zhou Bo, a retired senior colonel in the Chinese People's Liberation Army, told the BBC. The Beijing-based analyst said the outcome of the air duel showed "China has some systems that are next to none".

According to a Chinese military analyst, the air battle between India and Pakistan served as a massive advertisement for China's arms industry. Until now, China had little to show in terms of how its weapons perform in actual warfare.

The India-Pakistan clash of 2025 was not just a test of military might but a profound warning for democracies worldwide. In the age of cognitive warfare, the battlefield is everywhere and nowhere embedded in our devices,