# India Tests Ballistic Missile **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 20, 2012, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/india-tests-ballistic-missile/619370 "2012-04-20T04:06:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/india-tests-ballistic-missile/619370/1 "2012-04-20T04:06:59Z")
[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/20/world/asia/india-says-it-successfully-tests-nuclear-capable-missile.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/20/world/asia/india-says-it-successfully-tests-nuclear-capable-missile.html) Congratulations to the world’s largest democracy for strengthening itself in a hostile region. Hopefully India continues on its path to being a superpower. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/india-tests-ballistic-missile/619370/2 "2012-04-20T06:14:51Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/20/world/asia/india-says-it-successfully-tests-nuclear-capable-missile.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/20/world/asia/india-says-it-successfully-tests-nuclear-capable-missile.html) > > Congratulations to the world’s largest democracy for strengthening itself in a hostile region. Hopefully India continues on its path to being a superpower. The newsmongers are very careful to tell us that India now has the capacity to fire a missile and hit Beijing. Really? Why would they do that? It would be stupid and meaningless; neither trait is one I associate with India. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/india-tests-ballistic-missile/619370/3 "2012-04-20T06:57:22Z")
meh ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/india-tests-ballistic-missile/619370/4 "2012-04-20T07:00:01Z")
I don’t know that this was a good time for that kind of test. North Korea just had a failed launch, and this may be seen as rubbing their noses in it. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/india-tests-ballistic-missile/619370/5 "2012-04-20T08:09:01Z")
> [@Sudden\_Kestrel](#): > > The newsmongers are very careful to tell us that India now has the capacity to fire a missile and hit Beijing. Really? Why would they do that? It would be stupid and meaningless; neither trait is one I associate with India. Well, there was the Indo-Chinese unpleasantness of 1962, which ended with a Chinese victory; there is also a portion of what traditionally was Kashmir that is under Chinese control, and which India claims as its own. The relationship between India and China (the most populous countries in the world) has a rather strong undercurrent of tension and mistrust. And it would seem that the Chinese leadership takes the event seriously; whether they see this as a strong threat or not, I do not know. But they take it seriously nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/india-tests-ballistic-missile/619370/6 "2012-04-20T08:14:51Z")
Missed the edit window. I forgot to add that China tends (or tended) to be friendlier towards Pakistan than towards India (which didn’t help the Indo-Chinese relationship). China even _gave_ Pakistan part of the Kashmiri territory under Chinese control, which pissed India off to no end. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/india-tests-ballistic-missile/619370/7 "2012-04-20T10:01:43Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > Missed the edit window. I forgot to add that China tends (or tended) to be friendlier towards Pakistan than towards India (which didn’t help the Indo-Chinese relationship). China even _gave_ Pakistan part of the Kashmiri territory under Chinese control, which pissed India off to no end. Thank you for your explanations. It makes more sense to me now.