China’s missile test activity in the Pacific Ocean intensified Monday after the People’s Liberation Army Navy said a strategic nuclear submarine launched a missile into the high seas.
Navy spokesperson Wang Xuemeng said the launch took place at 12:01 p.m. local time on July 6. The missile carried a training simulation warhead and landed in a designated sea area.
Wang said the launch formed part of China’s annual military training. He added that Beijing informed relevant countries in advance.
The announcement came after Papua New Guinea’s Foreign Minister, Justin Tkatchenko, said China had briefed him about a planned test. He said the Chinese ambassador personally called him.
A New Zealand government source also told AFP that China had alerted Wellington about an upcoming intercontinental ballistic missile test. The source did not say where the missile was expected to land.
The launch came on the same day China and Russia were due to begin annual joint naval exercises off Qingdao, a major military port in eastern China. It was not immediately clear whether the missile test formed part of those drills.
China’s Rocket Force fired a dummy warhead into the sea near French Polynesia in September 2024. Analysts said at the time that the missile appeared to be an advanced Dong Feng-31, capable of carrying a thermonuclear warhead.
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The September 2024 launch was China’s first long-range missile test over international waters in more than 40 years.
