Responding sharply to America's offer to sell advanced weapons to India, including the fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets, Pakistan expressed concerns over the potential sale causing "military imbalances" in the region.
"Starting this year, we will be increasing military sales to India by many billions of dollars," US President Donald Trump recently announced after talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, adding, "We are also paving the way to ultimately provide India with F-35 stealth fighters."
Known as the most lethal, survivable and connected fighter aircraft in the world, the Lockheed Martin F-35 had taken part in the recently concluded Aero India-2025 in Bengaluru.
According to a report in Dawn, Pakistan foreign office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan, reacting to Trump's offer, pointed out that such steps would accentuate military imbalances in the region and undermine strategic stability.
"They remain unhelpful in achieving the objective of a durable peace in South Asia," he was quoted as saying.
Further, he requested "international partners" to have “a holistic and objective view of the issues of peace and security in South Asia” and stop taking “one-sided positions divorced from ground realities.”
When asked about the US decision to sell the fifth-generation fighter jets to India, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said the Asia-Pacific is an "arena for geopolitical games."
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"No one should make China an issue in the relations and cooperation between countries, or seek to instigate bloc politics and confrontation. The Asia-Pacific is a stellar example of peace and development, not an arena for geopolitical games. Ganging up to form exclusive groupings and engaging in bloc politics and confrontation will not bring about security, and will by no means keep the Asia-Pacific and the whole world peaceful and stable," he was quoted as saying.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had, on Friday, clarified that the F-35 jets deal with the US is only at the proposal stage. "This is currently something that's at the stage of a proposal. But I don't think the formal process in this regard has started as yet," he said.