India announced on Thursday the successful test launch of a new nuclear-capable missile that would give it, for the first time, the capability of striking the major Chinese cities of Beijing and Shanghai.
The government has hailed the Agni-V missile, with a range of 5,000 km, as a major boost to its efforts to counter China’s regional dominance and become an Asian power in its own right. “India has emerged from this launch as a major missile power,” said the head of India’s Defense Research and Development Organization, Vijay Saraswat.―AP