On Monday, China executed a striking military maneuver by test-launching a long-range ballistic missile from a nuclear-powered submarine stationed in the South Pacific. This uncommon display of military capability has sparked protests and raised alarms among various neighboring countries.
According to a report by the official Xinhua News Agency, the missile was launched at precisely 12:01 p.m., equipped with a dummy warhead. This demonstration signified the country’s continuous endeavor to advance its military technology and assert its presence in the region.
This recent test follows a predecessor conducted two years ago when China launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, also fitted with a dummy warhead, over the Pacific. Both instances underscore China’s strategic military exercises in international waters.
Notably, the launch two years ago marked China’s first missile test in the Pacific since 1980, highlighting the rarity and significance of such operations in the intervening decades.
China’s Ministry of Defense, echoing a succinct statement from Xinhua, emphasized that the recent launch was part of routine annual training exercises. They assured that it was conducted in accordance with international law, aimed at no specific country or target, thus attempting to mitigate regional unease.
The 2024 launch mirrored testing that the United States does for its own ballistic missile fleet, and experts then viewed it as an assertion of China’s growing superpower status.
Australia, Japan and New Zealand criticized the launch.
The New Zealand government said it was informed of the planned launch hours beforehand and noted that the missile was fired into the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone.
The nuclear-free zone was established by the 1986 Treaty of Rarotonga, which prohibits nuclear weapons throughout the region.
China in 1987 ratified the protocols pledging not to test nuclear weapons within the zone, or to threaten to use them against signatories with territory in the region.
“It appears that despite our long-standing concerns about this type of activity, China carried out the test within hours of informing us,” Foreign Minister Winston Peters told The Associated Press in a statement.
The launch took place the same day Australia and Fiji signed a new mutual defense treaty that was meant to counter Chinese influence in the Pacific.
“Australia has been clear with China that we regard this as destabilizing to the region,” Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong told reporters in Fiji, in response to the test.
Japan’s Defense Ministry in a statement conveyed its concern about China’s increasing military activity and asked Beijing to “rethink” its missile testing so the projectiles would not fly over Japan or pose other security risks.
China has a fleet of six ballistic-missile submarines, and 59 nuclear-powered attack submarines, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a Washington-based think tank.