Nuclear Test-Scarred Marshall Islands Criticises China Missile
Officials said the launch was routine training and not directed at any country as Pacific leaders criticized the timing.
- On Monday, July 6, 2026, the People's Republic of China test-fired a nuclear-capable ballistic missile from a strategic nuclear submarine into the Pacific Ocean, with the missile landing in waters between the Solomon Islands, Nauru, and Tuvalu.
- The launch coincided with Australia and Fiji signing the 'Ocean of Peace Alliance' defense treaty on July 6, while the PRC and Russia conducted the 'Joint Sea-2026' naval exercise scheduled through July 13.
- Pacific Island nations expressed strong concern, with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale stating, "China is a good friend of the Solomon Islands, but this is not something a friend does."
- Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine's office criticized the test, citing the country's nuclear history; the United States conducted 67 detonations there between 1946 and 1958.
- Beijing defended the launch as "routine," urging nations not to "overinterpret" it, though the test marks the PRC's first publicly acknowledged submarine-launched ballistic missile test into the Pacific.
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CNA Explains: Why China's rare missile test is putting the Pacific on edge
China has tested a long-range missile into the Pacific for only the second time in decades. The move is raising questions about its growing nuclear strength - and what it means for the Indo-Pacific.
In Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and on Pacific islands, there has been an indignant reaction to the missile test China conducted this week. Pacific countries are distancing themselves further from China. "Friends don't do this."
China notified the United States just a few hours before carrying out a ballistic missile test in the Pacific Ocean on July 6, and did not provide sufficient details, a U.S. State Department official said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
(Taipei=Yonhap News) Correspondent Kim Cheol-mun = Taiwan's Minister of National Defense [stated that] the submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) recently test-fired by the Chinese Navy into international waters in the Pacific...
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