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 his first visit to China, Pakistan’s army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa held talks with Fang Fenghui, chief of the joint staff department under the Central Military Commission of China on Thursday.

Gen. Bajwa’s talks with his counterpart will consolidate and deepen military exchanges between China and Pakistan, said a military expert Song Zhongping. China’s authorisation to Pakistan to produce ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, anti-ship missiles and main battle tanks in Pakistan is also on the agenda, he said.

It is not clear whether the Global Times report about China’s plans to co-produce missiles with Pakistan was a retaliatory move by Beijing in response to India’s Agni-V test.