Pakistan’s Defence in Crisis: Urgently Requests Deficient Items from China

In a striking revelation that underscores Pakistan’s growing dependence on Chinese military supplies and its faltering indigenous defence manufacturing capability, an official communication from Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) to NORINCO Beijing, dated 29th April 2025, has surfaced. The letter urgently seeks the provision of deficient and rejected items related to Chinese defence contracts—specifically in the context of tank production for the Pakistan Army.

This document, which appears to be a telefax addressed to key NORINCO officials, including project managers based in Beijing and Islamabad, reveals multiple layers of strategic, logistical, and geopolitical vulnerabilities in Pakistan’s military-industrial complex.

What the Document Reveals

• Urgent Dependency on China – The subject clearly mentions “Provision of Deficient / Rejected items against Chinese Contracts,” signaling that key components, possibly related to tank systems, were either missing or rejected due to quality issues. Yet, the same components are now being urgently demanded again due to security pressures.
• Security Emergency Highlighted—The opening statement refers to “prevailing security environments,” a phrase often used by defence establishments during conflict escalation or internal unrest. This highlights a possible critical shortage of functional armored systems ready for deployment.
• Logistical Desperation: Airlift Requested – The letter explicitly requests that these items be provided “through the fastest possible means (airlift),” reflecting not only a tight timeline but a serious capability gap in HIT’s ability to deliver battle-ready systems without Chinese support.
• Pakistan’s Tank Factory Under Strain – The communication is under the “Tank Factory” project—an internal HIT initiative long touted as a pillar of Pakistan’s self-reliance in ground combat vehicles. Yet, the reliance on China for critical items contradicts this claim.

Despite decades of local assembly and licensed production, including the Al-Khalid and Al-Zarrar tanks, this letter exposes Pakistan’s continued strategic and technological dependence on China for even basic or standardised components. That HIT is requesting rejected items again suggests that China has been delivering substandard parts or that Pakistan initially refused these due to quality issues. However, the same items are now being reconsidered due to operational urgency—pointing to compromised military readiness. This letter is a fresh reminder of the deepening Chinese footprint in Pakistan’s defence infrastructure. NORINCO, already under scrutiny for supplying weapons to several conflict-prone regions, continues to embed itself within Pakistani military operations.

For Western observers and international arms control regimes, this kind of communication could raise alarms about Chinese arms proliferation and the quality and accountability of defence exports to developing nations like Pakistan. However, no official confirmation from the Chinese side on this has emerged yet.