Without giving proper details, China has ‘successfully’ conducted a midcourse anti-ballistic missiles (ABMs) interception test that would further advance its ability towards its territorial claims.
ABMs are surface-to-air weapons designed to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles (which use a ballistic flight trajectory to deliver nuclear, chemical, biological, or conventional warheads).
The interception test comes as China has been escalating threats against the autonomous island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory to be annexed by military force if necessary.
However, China’s Defence Ministry on late Sunday said the missile test was purely defensive in nature and was not aimed at any foreign nations.
Missiles are a major module of China's defence system and the backbone of its space programmes.
As per Global Times, this is the second consecutive year that China has conducted this kind of test. A similar test was held in February 2021, according to an announcement of the Chinese defence ministry at the time.
As per the report, this takes the tally of publicly announced Chinese land-based ABM technical tests to six with other tests being carried out in 2010, 2013, 2014, 2018 and 2021.
Apart from Taiwan, China is engaged in territorial disputes with India, the Philippines, Vietnam and other governments of South Asia.
As per a report, China is building a bridge across Pangong Tso Lake in the disputed Himalayan region of Ladakh (Part of J&K, Now Bifurcated.)
In June 2020, India and China had a brutal and bloody skirmish without guns, fighting pitched battles in the icy cold, using metal rods, bludgeons with nail filings and other such improvised weapons.
Clashes intensified after the Government of India unilaterally scrapped the semi-autonomous status of J&K on 5 August 2019.
Pangong Tso lake lies in the disputed territory claimed by both countries. China has controlled two-thirds of the lake since the 1960s, and India holds the remaining one-third.