Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari’s rare tour of a secret Chinese military complex has emerged as a significant geopolitical signal, highlighting the depth of Sino-Pakistan defence ties amid the regional security churn following Operation Sindoor. Zardari, on a 10-day official visit to China, was hosted by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) in Beijing, becoming the first foreign head of state to access its sprawling headquarters.

During this engagement, he received detailed briefings on China’s most advanced aviation and defence technologies, including the J-10 multirole fighter, the J-20 5th-generation stealth aircraft, and the co-production progress of the JF-17 Thunder, a key symbol of bilateral defence cooperation.

He was also exposed to Chinese innovations in unmanned aerial vehicles, autonomous systems, and integrated command-and-control architectures designed for multi-domain warfare, signalling Islamabad’s intent to leverage these technologies for force modernisation.

The optics of the visit were reinforced by Zardari’s call for deeper joint defence production, which comes in the aftermath of Pakistan’s losses during India’s swift retaliatory campaign under Operation Sindoor in May 2025, when sustained drone and missile strikes degraded critical infrastructure.

Chinese diplomatic messaging, however, carefully deflected attention from the military-industrial component of the visit, instead framing Zardari’s engagements as an expression of Pakistan’s support for Beijing’s Global Security Initiative (GSI), a counter-narrative to US-led alliances. This calibrated response underlined Beijing’s caution in projecting overt military alignment while still reinforcing its all-weather partnership with Islamabad.

The visit was further symbolically charged by the presence of Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari, alongside Zardari, projecting Pakistan’s ruling family’s endorsement of defence and security integration with China.

Coming close on the heels of Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Field Marshal Gen. Asim Munir’s twin visit to Beijing for the Tianjin SCO Summit and subsequent meetings with Xi Jinping, the development signals a concerted outreach by Pakistan across both civilian and military leadership tiers to secure Chinese backing.

Their participation in the PLA’s 80th anniversary parade highlighted efforts at high-level military symbolism, reinforcing a narrative of enduring alignment.

Strategically, this sequence of visits underscores Pakistan’s dependence on China as its principal defence supplier, corroborated by SIPRI’s finding that over 81% of Islamabad’s recent military hardware originates from Beijing.

Analysts interpret these moves as Islamabad’s attempt to shore up its depleted arsenal, seek access to cutting-edge platforms like UAVs and stealth fighters, and expand co-production ventures, thereby consolidating its deterrence posture against India.

For Beijing, offering curated access to a sensitive military facility while downplaying its strategic weight illustrates a dual-prong strategy: reassure Pakistan of unwavering support while avoiding a perception of escalation amidst heightened Indo-Pacific scrutiny.

Based On A PTI Report