In brief
- The test came shortly after Australia and Fiji signed a major defence alliance.
- A Chinese navy statement described the weapon as a "strategic missile carrying a training simulation warhead".
Australia's defence industry minister said China's launch of a nuclear-capable ballistic missile into the South Pacific reflected "the biggest military build-up in our region since World War Two", as Canberra scrambled to respond to a test it was reportedly given only hours' notice to prepare for.
China confirmed it had successfully fired the ballistic missile, carried by a strategic nuclear submarine, into international waters in the Pacific Ocean on Monday. The launch came just hours after Australia and Fiji signed a major defence alliance committing each country to come to the other's aid if either is attacked.
A Chinese navy statement described the weapon as a "strategic missile carrying a training simulation warhead".
Chinese state media Xinhua reported the test formed part of the country's annual military exercise, calling it a "routine arrangement" that was not directed against any specific country or target and had been notified to relevant countries in advance.
Defence 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.
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"We've been very clear that we're seeing the biggest military build-up in our region since World War Two, and it's not being accompanied by sufficient transparency," he told ABC's RN Breakfast on Tuesday.
Conroy added he believed the launch was "more likely to be a coincidence rather than linked" to the Fiji agreement signed on the same day, though he added that was "obviously" a question for the Chinese government.
The test "can destabilise the region", he said, but did not detract from efforts to deliver "what the Pacific leaders have called for, which is Pacific security to come from within the Pacific".
Defence Minister Richard Marles, who is also the deputy prime minister, echoed those concerns.
The Chinese military's elite Rocket Force fired a dummy warhead near French Polynesia in September 2024 — its first long-range launch over international waters in more than 40 years — and this latest test again pushed a nuclear-capable weapon deep into the South Pacific.
"This is China demonstrating a much greater range in terms of being able to deploy a nuclear weapon," Marles told ABC News on Tuesday, saying Australia had raised its concern with China "directly".
"There really isn't an explanation as to why they are building the capabilities that they are and that is fundamentally destabilising."
Foreign Minister Penny Wong told ABC the test raised "the risk of miscalculation".
Wong, who said Australia had been advised in advance of the launch, earlier said representations had been made through diplomatic channels "because we do want the Pacific to be an ocean of peace", and confirmed she would press the matter in her next engagements with her Chinese counterparts.
Concern was not confined to Canberra. Taiwan's national security council chief, Joseph Wu, said in a post on X that the launch was "a provocation that destabilises the Indo-Pacific and that China had proved itself to be "a bully on the block".
New Zealand's foreign minister, Winston Peters, said in a statement that China had carried out the test "within hours of informing us", while Japan said it had expressed "grave concern" and urged China to reconsider.
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