India Test-Fires Agni-5 Nuclear-Capable Ballistic Missile

The Agni-5 missile was successfully launched in India’s eastern Odisha state, with authorities saying it “validated all operational and technical parameters,” AFP reported.

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 has nuclear weapons as well 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 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.

Last October, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with 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 Organization (SCO) -- 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 amid the Ukraine war.

The United States says it will double new import tariffs on India from 25 percent to 50 percent by August 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 its defense posture against Pakistan, as well as China.