VOA: India Declares Itself Major Missile Power; Beijing Within Reach Apr 19, 2012 – VOA News
India Thursday said it successfully test-fired a new missile capable of
carrying a nuclear warhead as far as Beijing – announcing itself as a
major “missile power.”
Indian media showed video of the long-range Agni-V missile in-flight after
its launch from a test range in the eastern state of Orissa.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh congratulated the country's scientists for
contributing to the country's “self reliance in defense.” India's
Defense Research and Development Organization chief Vijay Saraswat told
Indian media that the country now has missile capabilities that match with
the world's elite military powers.
The Agni-V has a range of 5,000 kilometers and had been described as a
“quantum leap” in India's strategic capability – able to
carry nuclear warheads as far as the Chinese capital as well as Shanghai.
When asked about the launch at a press briefing in Beijing, Chinese Foreign
Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said China and India are not competitors, but
partners. He said both sides should work together to deepen strategic
cooperation, promote mutual development and maintain peace and stability in
the region.
China's communist party newspaper, the Global Times, responded to India's
test launch with a warning of its own, saying “India would stand no
chance in an overall arms race with China” for the foreseeable future.
India's longtime rival, Pakistan, had no official reaction to the missile
launch. But Foreign Ministry spokesman Moazam Ahmad Khan said Thursday that
Pakistan was informed of the missile test prior to the launch in accordance
with a standing bilateral agreement.
Prior to the test launch, Indian officials cautioned the missile should not
be seen as a threat. Ravi Gupta, a spokesman for India's Defense Research and
Development Organization, said India has a “no first use” policy
and that India's missile systems are not “country specific.”
In Washington Thursday, U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner
said the United States urges all nuclear-capable states to exercise
restraint.
India has been testing its ballistic missile defense system since 2006. If it
becomes viable, India would become one of the few nations with a working
missile shield.
could in a crisis rely upon. Now, of course, the missing piece here is the
will of the Indian government to play the role.”
5. Bharat Karnad, former national security advisor to the Indian government
“India won't be working under the Chinese strategic overhang, as it
were. You now have gotten out from under it and you have now your own
armaments with which, should push come to shove, India will be in a position
to retaliate in like measure.”
