The moot point is China knows her critical areas are now within the Indian sphere. Inclusion of Agni-V in the Indian nuclear triad is significant capacity building.

The successful test firing of the Agni-V, with a range of 5,000 km, is undoubtedly an excellent achievement for India. By doing so, India has catapulted into the elite club of nations that have ICBM capability. Agni-V is a three-stage, all solid fuel powered missile with multiple independent targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV) which means the missile can target several areas simultaneously with one-tonne nuclear warhead. A single MIRV equipped missile can deliver multiple warheads at different targets. The test has earned kudos for the DRDO by the government, scientific and strategic communities besides the citizenry receiving the widespread media coverage with much acclaim considering that the 3,500-km range Agni missile was tested only last year. Agni-V will bring the whole of Asia, including the northernmost parts of China, 70 per cent of Europe and other regions under its strike envelope. It will take four to five repeatable tests by the DRDO before Agni-V goes operational by 2015 or so.

India’s increased strategic reach in 2012 should be viewed by the twin additions of the nuclear capable Agni-V and INS Chakra, plus earlier reports that a submarine launched version of the Agni-V is being worked upon. World reaction has been predictable with US commending India (Washington Post stating that India for the first time had the capability to hit Beijing directly) and NATO maintaining that this new Indian capability was not a threat considering India’s excellent non-proliferation record. The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin cautiously said, “China has taken note of reports on India’s missile launch.”

The two countries have a sound relationship. During the (recently held) BRICS meeting (in Delhi) the leadership had consensus to take the relationship further and to push forward bilateral strategic cooperative partnership. However, China’s state-run newspaper Global Times reacted pretty negatively to the success of the test launch calling it a “missile delusion” and commenting that India was “still poor and lags behind in infrastructure construction, but its society is highly supportive of developing nuclear power and the West chooses to overlook India’s disregard of nuclear and missile control treaties.” These are usual Chinese tactics – ‘cautious’ official statements and state mouthpiece newspapers going ‘vicious’. The Global Times report made several threats and warnings as well, “advising” India not to “over-estimate its strength”, and insisting that China’s nuclear power was “stronger and more reliable”. Later China claimed that, “For the foreseeable future, India would stand no chance in an overall arms race with China and that if India equates long range strategic missiles with deterrence of China, and stirs up further hostility, it could be sorely mistaken.” The Globe Times language is in line with the arrogance and aggressiveness of China demonstrated in recent years.

The nuclear and missile arsenal including deployment of nuclear capable missiles in Tibet targeting India are well known. If China talks of Sino-Indian “sound relationship” then the done thing should have been to laud the Indian scientific milestone through her mouthpiece newspaper, as done by the rest of the world. The International Institute of Strategic Studies Military Balance estimated the overall missile strength of China in 2010 to be some 478 with 66 ICBMs (including 20 of 13,000+ kms range, 24 of 11,200+ kms range and 12 of 7,200 kms range) and 36 SLBMs including 24 of 7,200+ kms range. If the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi says, “The Agni-V launch can give rise to another round of arms race in this part of the world”, who started the arms race? The moot point is China knows her critical areas are now within the Indian sphere. Inclusion of Agni-V in the Indian nuclear triad is significant capacity building.

The views expressed herein are the personal views of the author.