India has successfully tested a nuclear-capable ballistic missile. The launch from an island off its east coast is seen as a strong message to China as border tensions escalate in the Ladakh region. India says the Agni-5 landed in the Bay of Bengal with a very high degree of accuracy. The 17-metre-tall missile can strike targets up to 5,000 kilometers away. For more information, Ishan is coming soon after China's alleged hypersonic test. What message is India trying to send? Well, this is certainly in India being seen as very aggressive, posturing by New Delhi. The also conversation about this new missile, the entire narrative in the country, at the moment is centered around its target distance that's of 5,000 kilometers. Many in the countries, especially supporters of the government are saying that this missile can hit any part of China, and that's why it's that much important. And to add on top of that, we're also seeing strong support being shown towards India by the quad nations, by Western nations. Just recently, Nikki Haley, the ex-U and onward from the US. Another Republican leader is calling for a US-India alliance to counter China's influence in Asia. So we are seeing a kind of a global consortium building up to counter China's influence in the region, but the Indian government has said that this is not any sort of muscle flexing. The intention is not to as state its neighbor, certainly not China. It's saying that India has a very strong commitment towards this policy of no first aggression. But at the same time, it does test its missiles because it wants to have a very credible deterrent force available at its disposal. What's also adding to the conversation is the fact that this missile is nuclear capable. So it's also capable of hitting nuclear warheads up to a distance of 5,000 kilometers. So all these factors in combination make it look as if the test of this new missile is a message towards China. But Expo Sierra is saying that whatever the main reason may be, even if it's aggressive force sharing, that certainly means that the relation between India and China despite both countries saying that they're moving towards normalcy, are certainly not normal.