China considered developing the missile, which would have had precisely the range needed to strike key targets in India, and decided not to. The implication is that China no longer formulates strategic military plans with India in mind. The abandonment of the new medium-range missile is not the first indication of a policy shift. Instead, it is a potent reminder that China's military planning underwent vast changes more than ten years ago. Equally clearly, China does not figure in India's military planning or arms control policy.
China has a good-sized arsenal of ballistic missiles and it is developing more.
Developing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons was a high priority of the Chinese state during the first four decades of its post-war incarnation. In 1971, China deployed the Dong Feng 3A, its first missile capable of striking India. But Indian installations were not the 3A's potential targets-U.S. bases in the Philippines were. Until 1985, Chinese engineers focused their efforts on increasing the range of their missiles and improving their performance in the context of a possible war with Russia or the United States. In 1985, however, Deng Xiaoping instituted a program of military reforms based on the assumption that China would not face a major war for decades, if ever.