New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday announced that India successfully test-fired an anti-satellite missile by shooting down a live satellite, describing it as a rare achievement that puts the country in an exclusive club of space super powers.
In reaction, US media said ‘Mission Shakti’ “demonstrates India’s growing ambitions and footprint in space, where its neighbor China is seen as dominant”, the UK media expressed “fury” over it. The test made India the fourth country in the world after the US, Russia and China to acquire the strategic capability to shoot down enemy satellites.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry, in a written response to a question on India successfully test-firing an anti-satellite missile, said: “We have noticed reports and hope that each country will uphold peace and tranquillity in outer space”.
China conducted such a test in January 2007 when its anti-satellite missile destroyed a defunct weather satellite.
Whereas, Pakistan issued a call against military threats in outer space on Wednesday, hours after India said it had shot down a low-orbiting satellite in a demonstration of its growing power in space.
Talking about the Rogue neighbor, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said recently in a statement,
“Space is the common heritage of mankind and every nation has the responsibility to avoid actions which can lead to the militarization of this arena”.
“We hope that countries which have in the past strongly condemned demonstration of similar capabilities by others will be prepared to work towards developing international instruments to prevent military threats relating to outer space,” it said, without mentioning India by name.
