China test-fires long-range missile in South Pacific
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- Chinese Navy test-launched a long-range ballistic missile from a nuclear submarine in the South Pacific on Monday, according to state news agency Xinhua.
- The 1986 Treaty of Rarotonga designated the South Pacific as a nuclear-free zone; China ratified the treaty in 1987, creating direct tension with its current missile activity there.
- Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, on a visit to Fiji to boost defense ties, accused Beijing of "destabilizing" the region over the launch.
- New Zealand's top diplomat Winston Peters said China carried out the test "within hours of informing us," sharply criticizing the minimal advance notice given to regional partners.
- Beijing framed the launch as "routine" military drills; the last similar test in the area was conducted two years ago with a dummy warhead, and China has since expanded the scale and frequency of such drills.
Why it matters: Beijing's launch from a nuclear submarine in a zone it pledged to keep nuclear-free under the 1986 Treaty of Rarotonga — paired with only hours of advance notice to Australia and New Zealand — gives Pacific neighbors concrete grounds to deepen defense coordination, which Penny Wong was already pursuing during her Fiji visit.
