Pacific island nations are facing a security challenge in responding to China’s recent missile launch near Tuvalu and keeping their vision of a region as an “ocean of peace”, as analysts say the diverse nature of their ties with Beijing is complicating efforts towards a united response. On July 6, China said one of its navy’s nuclear submarines launched a “strategic missile” carrying a dummy warhead towards “relevant high seas of the Pacific Ocean”, describing the test as routine annual military...
On July 6, a Chinese strategic nuclear submarine fired a missile carrying a training dummy warhead into a designated area of the Pacific. Beijing described the launch as routine, said relevant countries had been notified and insisted that it targeted no state. The regional reaction was immediate, with Australia, Japan, the United States and Pacific nations raising concerns around insufficient notification and the politics of nuclear-free zones. Those reactions matter because they show how far...
Washington criticised China on Wednesday for providing only a few hours’ notice ahead of its launch of a submarine-fired ballistic missile into the Pacific, saying Beijing’s actions fell short of standards followed by other major nuclear powers. The US State Department said China failed to provide sufficient information ahead of Sunday’s test, which it said took place amid Beijing’s “rapid and opaque nuclear weapons build-up”. “We monitored China’s submarine-launched ballistic missile test on...
Countries raise concerns after Chinese military test-launches ballistic missile from submarine in the Pacific Ocean.
A nuclear-powered People’s Liberation Army submarine fired a test missile on the high seas in the Pacific on Monday, according to Chinese state media. The dummy warhead was fired at 12.01pm, state news agency Xinhua said. It added that it was a routine test and was not aimed at any specific country or target. The report said that relevant countries had been notified ahead of time. The test was China’s first known submarine-based missile test since 1982, and the first known to have been fired...