{"id":814,"date":"2026-07-06T13:29:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T08:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=814"},"modified":"2026-07-06T13:29:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T08:29:41","slug":"china-test-launches-ballistic-missile-in-south-pacific-nuclear-free-zone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=814","title":{"rendered":"China test-launches ballistic missile in South Pacific nuclear-free zone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F07%2F133462546.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>China\u2019s military test-launched a long-range ballistic missile Monday from one of its nuclear-powered submarines in the South Pacific in a rare move that drew protest and concerns from countries in the region.<\/p>\n<p>The missile was launched at 12:01 p.m. and carried a dummy warhead, according the official Xinhua News Agency.<\/p>\n<p>China last conducted a missile test in the Pacific two years ago, then\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/09\/27\/business\/xi-jinping-is-about-to-do-something-truly-horrendous\/\">firing an intercontinental ballistic missile\u00a0with a dummy warhead<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>A Chinese PLA Navy Type 094A Jin-class nuclear submarine off Shandong province, China, April 23, 2019. <span class=\"credit\">POOL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>That previous launch in international waters was the first in decades, since 1980.<\/p>\n<p>The launch was part of routine annual training, complied with international law and practice, and was not directed against any country or target, according to the one-line statement from Xinhua, which was reposted by the Ministry of Defense.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>The 2024 launch mirrored testing that the United States does for its own ballistic missile fleet, and experts then viewed it as an assertion of <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/21\/world-news\/china-reportedly-developing-new-generation-of-nuclear-weapons-and-conducted-a-top-secret-test-this-month\/\">China\u2019s growing superpower status<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Australia, Japan and New Zealand criticized the launch.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>China\u2019s September 2024 test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile with a dummy warhead over the Pacific. <span class=\"credit\">Chinese People&#8217;s Liberation Army<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The nuclear-free zone was established by the 1986 Treaty of Rarotonga, which prohibits nuclear weapons throughout the region.<\/p>\n<p>China in 1987 ratified the protocols pledging not to test nuclear weapons within the zone, or to threaten to use them against signatories with territory in the region.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt appears that despite our long-standing concerns about this type of activity, China carried out the test within hours of informing us,\u201d Foreign Minister Winston Peters told The Associated Press in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The launch took place the same day\u00a0Australia and Fiji signed a new mutual defense treaty\u00a0that was meant to counter Chinese influence in the Pacific.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Chinese President Xi Jinping addresses a gathering at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, July 1, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">Xinhua\/Shutterstock<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cAustralia has been clear with China that we regard this as destabilizing to the region,\u201d Australia\u2019s Foreign Minister Penny Wong told reporters in Fiji, in response to the test.<\/p>\n<p>Japan\u2019s Defense Ministry in a statement conveyed its concern about China\u2019s increasing military activity and asked Beijing to \u201crethink\u201d its missile testing so the projectiles would not fly over Japan or pose other security risks.<\/p>\n<p>China has a <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/09\/03\/world-news\/china-unveils-full-land-sea-and-air-nuclear-triad-for-first-time-at-largest-ever-military-parade-unstoppable\/\">fleet of six ballistic-missile submarines<\/a>, and 59 nuclear-powered attack submarines, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a Washington-based think tank.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>China\u2019s military test-launched a long-range ballistic missile Monday from one of its nuclear-powered submarines in the South Pacific in a rare move that drew protest and concerns from countries in the region. The missile was launched at 12:01 p.m. and carried a dummy warhead, according the official Xinhua News Agency. China last conducted a missile&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/133462546.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}