China plans to scale up its defence cooperation with its “all-weather” ally Pakistan to co-produce ballistic missiles, in an apparent retaliation to India developing the nuclear-capable Agni V missile that has a range of over 5,000 km covering whole of China.
Declining to react to Chinese official media reports that Beijing plans to co-produce ballistic and cruise missiles with Pakistan, besides mass production of military aircraft, Chinese Foreign Ministry however said Beijing stands for “strategic balance” in South Asia.
“On Pakistan army chief’s visit to China, the Pakistan military has released information about the meetings between the him and the Chinese counterpart,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told media briefing here.
“From the news release, we did not see anything about the agreement about ballistic missiles,” she said while answering a question about a report in the state-run Global Times that China plans to step up its defence cooperation with Pakistan, including ballistic, cruise missiles besides joint mass production a multi-role combat aircraft.