India test-fires nuclear-capable ballistic missile, with eye on China

NEW DELHI - India said on Aug 20 that it had 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, with the authorities saying 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 United States, Australia and Japan, which is seen as a counter to China.

India’s bitter rival Pakistan also has nuclear weapons, and the two countries

came close to war in May

after militants killed 26 people in Indian-administered Kashmir, an attack New Delhi blamed on Islamabad. But Pakistan has denied any involvement.

Caught in global trade and geopolitical turbulence triggered by US President Donald Trump’s tariff war, Delhi and Beijing have

moved to mend ties.

In October 2024, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping for the first time in five years at a summit in Russia.

Mr Modi is expected to make his first visit to China since 2018 later in August to attend the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation – a regional security bloc.

Ties between New Delhi and Washington, meanwhile, have been strained by Mr 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 per cent to 50 per cent by Aug 27 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 India’s defence posture against Pakistan, as well as China. AFP