BEIJING: China said on Monday it had successfully conducted a strategic missile test in the Pacific Ocean, describing the launch as part of its routine annual military training and insisting it was not directed against any country.
The missile, launched from a strategic nuclear submarine of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), carried a training simulation warhead and landed accurately in a designated area of the Pacific, according to state-run Xinhua News Agency.
“At 12:01 pm on July 6, a strategic nuclear submarine of China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy successfully launched a strategic missile carrying a training simulation warhead into the relevant high seas of the Pacific Ocean, accurately landing in the designated sea area,” navy spokesperson Wang Xuemeng said in a statement posted on the PLAN’s official WeChat account.
“This missile test launch is a routine arrangement of China’s annual military training, and relevant countries were informed in advance,” Wang said.
The launch came on the same day that China and Russia were due to begin their annual joint naval exercises off Qingdao, a major military port and seaside resort in China’s east.
It was not immediately clear if the missile launch was part of those drills.
Xinhua said relevant countries had been notified in advance and that the launch “complied with international law and practice and was not directed against any specific country or target.”
Submarine-Launched Test
Although Chinese authorities did not identify the missile, defence analysts have linked the capabilities to China’s Type 094 nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, which are believed to be capable of carrying JL-3 intercontinental-range submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
The launch marked another demonstration of China’s sea-based strategic deterrence as Beijing continues to modernise its nuclear forces.
China’s elite Rocket Force fired a dummy warhead into the sea near French Polynesia in September 2024, its first long-range missile launch over international waters in more than 40 years.
It appeared to be one of China’s advanced Dong Feng-31 missiles, analysts said at the time, a weapon capable of delivering a thermonuclear warhead.
The long-range missile splashed into a patch of ocean long designated a nuclear-free zone under an international treaty.
The missile test came after regional countries had warned that China was preparing to conduct a long-range missile launch over the Pacific.
According to Chinese state media, Australia and New Zealand were among the countries notified before the exercise.
The launch also coincided with heightened regional security developments, taking place shortly after Australia and Fiji signed the “Ocean of Peace” defence agreement aimed at strengthening military cooperation in the Pacific.
