Newsman: China’s navy test-launched a long-range ballistic missile Monday from one of its nuclear-powered submarines in the South Pacific. Xinhua News Agency released the photo of the a long-range ballistic missile bursts out of the sea during a test launched from a Chinese nuclear-powered submarines in the South Pacific .This rare act quickly drew protests and concern from countries in the region and the United States.
The missile carried a dummy warhead, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. China last conducted a missile test in the Pacific two years ago, firing an intercontinental ballistic missile with a dummy warhead, the first since 1980.
The 2024 launch mirrored the testing the United States conducts for its own ballistic missile fleet, which experts viewed as an assertion of China’s growing superpower status.
Monday’s launch, at 12:01 p.m. local time, was part of routine annual training, complied with international law and practice and was not directed against any country or target, according to a short statement from Xinhua, which was reposted by the Ministry of Defense.
Australia, Japan and New Zealand express criticism
The Chinese missile launch took place the same day Australia and Fiji signed a new mutual defense treaty meant to counter Chinese influence in the Pacific.
Australia, Japan and New Zealand criticized the launch and expressed concerns..The New Zealand government said it was informed hours beforehand and noted that the missile was fired into the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone.
The zone was established by the 1986 Treaty of Rarotonga, which prohibits nuclear weapons throughout the region. China ratified the protocols in 1987, pledging not to test nuclear weapons within the zone or 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.
“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 expressed concern about China’s increasing military activity and urged Beijing to “rethink” its missile testing so that the projectiles would not fly over Japan or pose other security risks.
“China’s military activities, combined with its lack of transparency, have become a grave concern for Japan and the international society,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said in Japan, citing Beijing’s military activities around Japan and its increased military spending.
.U.S. State Department spokesperson Thomas Pigott said while the U.S. was “working harder than ever” to prevent nuclear proliferation, China was doing the opposite.
“Beijing’s rapid and opaque nuclear weapons buildup is of great concern to the region and the world,” he said.
He added the U.S. will continue to urge Beijing to engage in meaningful arms control discussions and commit to a regularized notification arrangement for intercontinental ballistic missile and space launches.
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.
In its latest report to Congress on China’s military capabilities, released in late 2025, the Pentagon said China had an estimated stockpile of around 600 nuclear warheads in 2024, adding that the PLA remains on track to field more than 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030.
