Chinese state television proudly announced that Pakistani J-10CE fighters, made in China, beat Qatari Eurofighter Typhoons by a score of 9-0 in joint exercises. Without a single loss. The number sounds like a knockout - until you look at the rules the match was played by.

The "Zilzal-II" exercise was held in Qatar in January 2024. Qatar's air force is considered among the most capable in the Middle East, and on paper the Eurofighter has the advantages: two engines, an AESA radar, greater speed and a larger payload. The J-10CE, meanwhile, is sold as a cheaper alternative to Western fighters like the F-16 and the Typhoon - and that's exactly why Beijing wants the result to look like proof of its value.

But analyst Harrison Kass points to what the advertising skips over: the 9-0 result probably says more about the rules of the exercise than about the superiority of the aircraft. The Typhoon's biggest advantage - the long-range Meteor missile - can't be used at all in a scenario limited to close combat. "The typical constraints include combat within visual range only, predetermined starting positions and weapons restrictions," he explains. In other words, the match was tailored so that one aircraft's weakness never came into play.

The point is as old as propaganda itself: a number without context is a weapon, not information. "9-0" makes a headline, but it says nothing about which aircraft is really better in real combat. And the Balkans, which have spent decades listening to every side claim its weapons are the best, know well that the real test is never the exercise - it's the day there are no rules.