New Delhi, May 26 -- India perceives China as its "primary adversary" and Pakistan as "an ancillary security problem to be managed" despite the military clashes this month triggered by New Delhi's military strikes on terrorist facilities, according to a new assessment by the US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Pakistan, on the other hand, sees India as an "existential threat" and will continue the development of tactical nuclear weapons to counter India's conventional military advantage, while tensions between India and China on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are "capable of escalating quickly", DIA director Lt Gen Jeffrey Kruse said in his worldwide threat assessment to the US House armed services subcommittee on intelligence. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 to target terrorist infrastructure in territories controlled by Pakistan in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives. The strikes triggered four days of intense clashes that ended with an understanding between the two countries on halting military actions on May 10. The DIA assessment, presented on May 11, said the Indian and Pakistani militaries had "agreed to a full ceasefire" after multiple rounds of missile, drone and loitering munition attacks and heavy artillery fire during May 7-10. Kruse concluded: "India views China as its primary adversary and Pakistan more an ancillary security problem to be managed, despite cross-border attacks in mid-May by both India's and Pakistan's militaries." On the other hand, the DIA said, Pakistan regards India as "an existential threat and will continue to pursue its military modernisation effort, including the development of battlefield nuclear weapons, to offset India's conventional military advantage". Pakistan is modernising its nuclear arsenal and "almost certainly procures WMD-applicable goods from foreign suppliers and intermediaries", the assessment said. "Pakistan primarily is a recipient of China's economic and military largesse, and Pakistani forces conduct multiple combined military exercises every year with China's PLA." The DIA said foreign materials and technology supporting Pakistan's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programmes are "very likely acquired primarily from suppliers in China, and sometimes are transshipped through Hong Kong, Singapore, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates". The assessment further said tensions between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) are "capable of escalating quickly", and the Indian government's defence priorities will "probably focus on demonstrating global leadership, countering China, and enhancing New Dehli's military power". "To counter Chinese influence and boost its global leadership role, India is giving priority to advancing its bilateral defence partnerships in the Indian Ocean region through exercises, training, arms sales, and information sharing," the assessment said....