China announced on September 25 that it had conducted the first test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the Pacific Ocean in over four decades, as part of its efforts to expand its nuclear arsenal. Further details including what type of ICBM had been launched were not released.
The Chinese Defense Ministry stated that the ICBM, which was equipped with a dummy payload, “landed in the anticipated sea areas.” It also stated that the launch was a “routine arrangement” in the military’s annual training plan.
“It is in line with international law and international practices and is not directed against any country or target,” the ministry said.
The launch as part of the exercises of the Rocket Forces of the People’s Liberation Army of China was carried out at 08:44 Beijing time.
Beijing had also “informed relevant countries in advance,” according to a secondary report from China’s official Xinhua News Agency.
However, a Japanese government spokesperson in Tokyo stated on Wednesday that Japan had not been included in the notification.
“There was no advance notification from the Chinese side to the Japanese side,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a news conference, adding that the missile was not confirmed to have passed over Japanese territory.
Australia and the United States were among the countries that were informed in advance, according to NHK, which cited an unidentified source.
Guam’s Homeland Security Office of Civil Defense declined to confirm whether the missile flew over the island. According to a statement, “no immediate threat was assessed for Guam or the Marianas from the reported launch.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov during a briefing called the Chinese test a “sovereign right.” “This is China’s sovereign right. They are engaged in military development, and we respect that,” he noted.
Peskov emphasized that necessary exchanges of information take place within the framework of Moscow-Beijing contacts.
In 2017, Dmitry Peskov stated that the Kremlin does not regard Chinese intercontinental ballistic missiles located near the Russian border as a threat to the country. He was responding to inquiries regarding an article in the Chinese government-affiliated newspaper Global Times that detailed the deployment of a second brigade of new Chinese DF-41 ICBMs in Heilongjiang Province, which is bordered by Russia’s Amur Region, Khabarovsk, and Primorsky Krai.
The majority of Russian territory is already within the range of China’s medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs), which have a reduced flight time.
Beijing has been developing new ICBMs that will “significantly improve its nuclear-capable missile forces and will require increased nuclear warhead production,” as the Pentagon warned in its annual report on the Chinese military last October. China has also been increasing the development of its missile and nuclear arsenals in recent years.
In the past, the Chinese military’s Rocket Force has publicly disclosed information regarding shorter-range ballistic missile training. However, analysts have noted that ICBM launch announcements are exceedingly uncommon.
The last test-firing of ICBMs into the Pacific by China is believed to have taken place in May 1980. Beijing fired numerous long-range missiles into the South Pacific, reportedly in an effort to avert strikes from the Soviet Union.
China has been known to test-fire its longer-range weapons in the sparsely populated western Gobi Desert area.
China’s longest-range missile, the DF-41, is reportedly capable of carrying multiple independently targeted payloads and has an operational range of up to 15,000 km, in contrast to the DF-31, which has an estimated range of 7,000 to 11,700 kilometers.
Some analysts, citing Chinese NOTAMs, or notices that warn aircraft of potential hazards en route, have suggested that the missile’s trajectory may have been similar to that of the 1980 launch. That missile splashed down in the center of a ring that encompassed the Solomon Islands, Nauru, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Western Samoa, Fiji, and what is now Vanuatu.
The missile may have flown over Guam, which is home to a vast US military facility that would be essential in the event of a conflict with China.
On October 1, Beijing is also scheduled to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. It is possible that new weapons systems or advancements will be introduced during a large-scale military parade.
The launch occurred concurrently with Taiwan’s Defense Ministry’s announcement that it had identified recent “intensive” missile firing and other training activities by the Chinese military in a statement issued earlier Wednesday. In the same statement, the ministry reported that 23 Chinese military aircraft were operating in the vicinity of Taiwan on “long-range missions.”
Since late August, the Chinese military has increased its activities in the region by repeatedly violating Japanese airspace and territorial waters. Additionally, it deployed its Liaoning aircraft carrier between two Japanese islands in close proximity to Taiwan last week.