How India and Pakistan Military Clash is Testing Mettle of

As nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan engage in a military clash, analysts say the conflict is also a battle between western and Chinese weapons. Amid changing patterns in the flow of arms, three nuclear powers — India, Pakistan and China — stand in uneasy proximity, experts say.Increasing Western military support to India, and China’s to Pakistan, signals a shift in global alignments and another potential flashpoint for international tensions.India, a traditionally non-aligned country, has been buying billions of dollars in equipment from the US and other Western suppliers. Between 2006 and 2010, about 80% of India’s major weapons came from Russia. However, over the past four years, that figure has fallen to about 3%, with more than half of Indian imports coming from US allies like France and Israel.At the same time, India has sharply reduced purchases of low-cost arms from Russia, its Cold War-era ally.Meanwhile, Pakistan, whose relevance to the US has waned since the end of the war in Afghanistan, is no longer buying the American equipment. Islamabad has instead turned to China, it’s “all-weather ally and friend” for the vast majority of its military purchasesPakistan’s weapons share of Chinese-made arms has shot up to about 80% from just 38% in the mid-2000s, as per Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. n18oc_world n18oc_crux0:00 INTRODUCTION1:15 INDIA TURNS TO RUSSIAN & WESTERN WEAPONS, PAKISTAN RELIES ON CHINA2:50 INDIA COURTS US WHILE CHINA WOOS PAKISTAN4:55 WORLD KEENLY WATCHING INDIA-PAK BATTLE OF FIGHTER JETS?

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