China conducts long-range ballistic missile test in South Pacific

China's military test-launched a long-range ballistic missile from one of its nuclear-powered submarines in the South Pacific on Monday, according to an announcement by the official Xinhua News Agency. The missile was launched at 12:01 pm and carried a dummy warhead.

The launch was part of routine annual training, complied with international law and practice, and was not directed against any country or target, the statement said, as reposted by the Ministry of Defence.

Australia and New Zealand criticized the launch. The New Zealand government said it was informed of the planned launch hours beforehand and noted that the missile was fired into the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone. The zone was established by the 1986 Treaty of Rarotonga, which prohibits nuclear weapons throughout the region. China ratified the protocols in 1987, pledging not to test nuclear weapons within the zone or to threaten to use them against signatories with territory in the region.

“It appears that despite our long-standing concerns about this type of activity, China carried out the test within hours of informing us,” Foreign Minister Winston Peters told The Associated Press in a statement.

The launch took place the same day Australia and Fiji signed a new mutual defence treaty aimed at countering Chinese influence in the Pacific. “Australia has been clear with China that we regard this as destabilising to the region,” Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong told reporters in Fiji.