The Chinese military successfully test-launched a long-range ballistic missile from one of its nuclear-powered submarines in the South Pacific this Monday. According to an official announcement from the Xinhua News Agency, the launch occurred at 12:01 p.m. and involved a missile equipped with a dummy warhead. The Ministry of Defense stated that the exercise was part of routine annual training, aligned with international law and practice, and was not targeted at any specific country or site.
This event marks China’s return to Pacific missile testing, following a similar launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile two years ago. While the Chinese government maintains the test was routine, it has sparked significant concern and criticism from Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. The New Zealand government noted it had been informed of the plan hours before the launch, but expressed dissatisfaction, with Foreign Minister Winston Peters stating, “It appears that despite our long-standing concerns about this type of activity, China carried out the test within hours of informing us.”
Regional tensions were heightened as the test coincided with the signing of a new mutual defense treaty between Australia and Fiji, intended to counter Chinese influence in the area. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong told reporters in Fiji that Australia views the missile launch as a destabilizing act for the region. Simultaneously, the Japanese government issued a strong call for China to reconsider such activities, citing concerns about security risks, particularly regarding the potential for missiles to pass through Japanese airspace.
The missile was fired into the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone, which was established by the 1986 Treaty of Rarotonga to prohibit nuclear weapons in the region. Although China ratified protocols in 1987 pledging not to test such weapons within the zone, regional leaders remain wary. According to the Washington-based Nuclear Threat Initiative, China currently maintains a fleet of 59 nuclear-powered attack submarines and six ballistic-missile submarines. Documentation of the event, including imagery from 2026, is cataloged under reference 035-03, with technical specifications involving a 309-6 trajectory, a 955-class designation, and a 1200×630 thumbnail resolution, identified by the 87988 and 21983 tracking codes.
