Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has dismissed reports of buying China's advanced J-35A stealth fighter jet. In an interview, he described these reports as media speculation, which is aimed only at promoting China's defense deals.
In june 2025, Bloomberg and other international media institutions claimed that Pakistan is going to be the first foreign customer of the J-35A stealth fighter jet developed by China. This aircraft is a fifth-generation stealth jet manufactured by China's Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, equipped with modern technology and radar-dodging capability. After these reports, the shares of AVIC Shenyang Aircraft Corporation suddenly jumped 10 percent.
What did Pakistan's Defense minister Khawaja Asif say?
In an interview to Arab news, Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Asif clearly said, "We are not buying these." He completely rejected the news going on in the media and said, "I think this is just media talk. This is good publicity for Chinese defense sales." What was the claim? Recently, many international media reports including Bloomberg claimed that pakistan is going to be the first foreign country to buy China's advanced J-35A stealth fighter jets. It was also told that these aircraft have been equipped with PL-17 long-range air-to-air missiles and pakistan can get their delivery by august 2025. Reports also said that Pakistani pilots are being trained in China. Work on field readiness of about 30–40 aircraft has been completed. China is ready to give a discount of 50% on a deal of these aircraft. Why does pakistan not want to buy J-35 from China? Why does pakistan not want to buy J-35 from China? 1. The situation remains sensitive after the border clashes and air strikes between india and pakistan in May. In such a situation, confirming the purchase of stealth fighter aircraft from china would be considered a direct provocation for India. This could intensify the arms race in South Asia. Also, diplomatic tensions with India could increase further.
2. pakistan is currently under strict economic monitoring of the IMF. In such a situation, the talk of buying fighter jets worth billions of dollars can raise questions about its financial discipline. By publicly denying, pakistan wants to show that it is adopting a responsible economic policy. This will also maintain international support.
3. Many analysts believe that this was a deliberate move by china, in which J-35A was promoted internationally by calling Pakistan a buyer through the media. In this way, an attempt was made to attract countries like Egypt, Algeria. At the same time, there has been no official confirmation or denial from China.
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