India has said that it has successfully test-fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile which, when operational, should be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to any part of China.
The Agni-5 missile was successfully launched in India’s eastern Odisha state on Wednesday, and authorities said it “validated all operational and technical parameters”.
India and China, the world’s two most populous nations, are intense rivals competing for influence across south Asia and relations plummeted in 2020 after a deadly border clash.
India is also part of the Quad security alliance with the US, Australia and Japan, which is seen as a counter to China.
India’s bitter rival, Pakistan, has nuclear weapons as well and the two countries came to close to war in May after militants killed 26 people in Indian-administered Kashmir, an attack New Delhi blamed on Islamabad. Pakistan denied any involvement.
Caught in global trade and geopolitical turbulence triggered by Donald Trump’s tariff war, Delhi and Beijing have moved to mend ties.
Last October, the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, met the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, for the first time in five years at a summit in Russia.
Modi is expected to make his first visit to China since 2018 later this month to attend the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation – a regional security bloc.
Ties between New Delhi and Washington, meanwhile, have been strained by Trump’s ultimatum that India end its purchases of Russian oil, a key source of revenue for Moscow as it wages its military offensive in Ukraine.
The US says it will double new import tariffs on India from 25% to 50% by 27 August if New Delhi does not switch crude suppliers.
The Agni-5 is one of a number of indigenously produced short- and medium-range Indian ballistic missiles aimed at boosting its defence posture against Pakistan, as well as China.
