India going nuclear: A bomb against China?

As China and India were gradually repairing their relations since the late 1980s, India’s nuclear tests in May 1998 caused a major setback for the improvement of the bilateral relationship. By discussing the question whether New Delhi is developing the bomb against China or not, this article attempts to shed some light on the strategic fallouts of the Indian nuclear tests for Sino-Indian relations and South Asian security. It is argued that despite measurable improvements in Sino-Indian relations in recent years, the two nations still view each other as geo-strategic rivals. The major motivation for New Delhi’s bomb decision was that it had felt increasingly uncomfortable with the power asymmetry between India and China and it wanted to sit as equal as China at the table of world powers by declaring itself a nuclear weapons state.