China Launches Strategic Missile into Pacific During Military Drills
AFP
Beijing: China said on Monday it successfully carried out a strategic missile test in the Pacific Ocean as part of its annual military training programme, after several Pacific nations confirmed they had been notified in advance of the launch.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the missile test was a routine component of the country’s yearly military exercises and that relevant countries had been informed beforehand.
“This missile test launch is a routine arrangement of China’s annual military training, and relevant countries were informed in advance,” Wang said.
Later, the Chinese navy announced that at 12:01 pm on July 6, a strategic nuclear submarine of the People’s Liberation Army Navy launched a strategic missile carrying a simulated training warhead into the Pacific Ocean.
According to navy spokesperson Wang Xuemeng, the missile accurately struck its designated target area in the high seas of the Pacific.
The launch took place on the same day China and Russia were scheduled to begin their annual joint naval exercises off the eastern Chinese port city of Qingdao. It was not immediately clear whether the missile test was connected to those drills.
Earlier on Monday, Papua New Guinea’s Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko confirmed that Beijing had informed his government about the planned missile launch.
“Yes, China has briefed me. I was personally called by the Chinese ambassador,” Tkatchenko told AFP.
A New Zealand government source also confirmed that Wellington had received advance notification from China regarding an upcoming intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test, although officials did not disclose the missile’s intended impact area.
The latest launch follows China’s long-range missile test in September 2024, when the country’s Rocket Force fired a missile carrying a dummy warhead into waters near French Polynesia. Analysts at the time identified it as likely a Dong Feng-31 missile, an advanced system capable of carrying a thermonuclear warhead.
The missile landed in a section of the Pacific designated as a nuclear-free zone under an international treaty, marking China’s first long-range missile launch over international waters in more than four decades.
Last month, AFP also reported that New Zealand’s Defence Force had warned in an internal assessment that China’s expanding naval operations and ballistic missile tests were likely to become a “persistent” feature of the Pacific region.
