BEIJING (RT) - A Chinese nuclear submarine has launched a long-range ballistic missile with a dummy warhead into the Pacific Ocean, marking the first test of the kind since 2024.
“This test launch is a routine part of the Chinese PLA Navy’s annual training,” Navy spokesman Wang Xuemeng said in a statement. “The Chinese side notified relevant countries in advance.”
“This test launch complies with international law and international practice and is not directed at any specific country or target,” Wang added.
The spokesman said the missile “landed precisely within the designated waters.” CNN, citing a regional source, reported that it landed near the exclusive economic zone of either Kiribati or Tuvalu.
The U.S., Australia, New Zealand, and Japan condemned the test as a dangerous escalation. U.S. State Department spokesman Thomas Pigott said “Beijing’s rapid and opaque nuclear weapons buildup is of great concern to the region and the world.” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong accused China of destabilizing the region, describing its military activities as “lacking in transparency and reassurance.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning pushed back against the criticism, saying the test was conducted in “a safe, standard and professional manner.” She urged all countries to “not read too much into it.”
The U.S. and China have exchanged warm gestures in recent months. U.S. President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in May during a visit that both sides said was cordial. Trump stated on Monday that he expects Xi to visit the U.S. in late September. Xi earlier congratulated Trump on the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
Nevertheless, tensions have persisted. In May, the U.S. imposed new sanctions on Chinese oil companies allegedly involved in trade with Iran and blacklisted another batch of entities the following month that it accused of supplying weapons to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. China responded by sanctioning ten U.S. companies involved in the defense, aerospace, and rare-earth mining sectors.
China has also condemned the U.S.-Israel war against Iran and the U.S. energy blockade of Cuba as violations of international law.
Australia on Tuesday said China’s test launch of a nuclear-capable ballistic missile into the South Pacific reflected “the biggest military build-up in our region since World War II.”
Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy said the Chinese government had been planning the long-range test for “some time” but only informed Australia a few hours beforehand, Anadolu Agency reported.
China said on Monday it had successfully conducted the test launch of a strategic missile from a nuclear submarine, hours after Beijing notified several Pacific nations of the planned test.
The launch marks China’s second strategic missile test since it fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the Pacific Ocean in September 2024, the first such test since 1980.
The launch came just hours after Australia and Fiji signed a major defense alliance committing each country to come to the other’s aid if either is attacked.