China’s nuclear weapon tests usually take place domestically and it previously test-fired ICBMs west into the Taklamakan Desert in the Xinjiang region.
So this is believed to be the first time since 1980 that it launched an ICBM into international waters.
“Unless I’m missing something, I think this is essentially the first time this has happened – and been announced as such – in a long time,” Ankit Panda, a nuclear weapons specialist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote on X.
He added that Beijing’s description of the test as “routine” and “annual” was odd, “given that they don’t do this sort of thing either routinely or annually”.
Japan’s defence ministry said there has been no damage to its vessels as of early afternoon on Wednesday.
“We will continue to collect and analyse information on the movements of the Chinese military and will take all possible precautions in our vigilance and monitoring,” the ministry said, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK.
When China last did such a test – in May 1980 – the ICBM flew 9,070km and landed in the Pacific. That test involved 18 Chinese naval ships and is still considered one of China’s biggest naval missions.
“Timing is everything,” Drew Thompson, a visiting research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, wrote on X.
“[China’s] statement claims the launch does not target any country, but there are high-levels of tension between China and Japan, Philippines, and of course perpetual tension with Taiwan.”
“The launch is a powerful signal intended to intimidate everyone,” he added.
John Ridge, a US-based defence analyst, said China could have conducted the test as a form of “posturing or signalling to the United States”.
While the relationship between Beijing and Washington has improved in the past year, China’s increasing assertiveness in the region remains a sticking point.
Tensions have ramped up between China and the Philippines as their ships have repeatedly collided in disputed waters. Last month, Japan scrambled fighter jets after it accused a Chinese spy plane of breaching its air space, a move that it called “utterly unacceptable”.
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