China Test-Fires Ballistic Missile From Nuclear Submarine Into the Pacific, Unsettling Its Neighbours
China has test-fired a missile from a nuclear-powered submarine that landed in “designated waters” in the Pacific Ocean, state news agency Xinhua reports — a rare demonstration of Beijing’s sea-based deterrent that has drawn concern from Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
The Chinese navy launched the long-range ballistic missile at 12:01pm local time (04:01 GMT) on Monday from a nuclear-powered submarine positioned in the South Pacific, according to Xinhua. The missile, fitted with a dummy warhead, fell into pre-announced “designated waters.” Beijing described the launch as a “routine arrangement” within its annual military training plan, insisting it was “not directed at any specific target.”
Routine or not, submarine-launched tests of this kind are exceptionally rare for China. It is the country’s first such Pacific launch since September 2024, when the People’s Liberation Army fired an intercontinental ballistic missile into international waters — its first ICBM test over the Pacific in more than four decades.
🛰️ The flight, visualised
How the region reacted
Unusually, Beijing gave advance notice to several governments — a gesture analysts read as an attempt to blunt criticism. It did not entirely succeed. (Tap each country to expand.)
The action was “destabilising” to the region.
“New Zealand considers this an unwelcome and concerning development. We, like our neighbours in other Pacific countries, have no interest in China using the South Pacific as a testing site for missile capability.”
How the day unfolded
Why an SLBM test matters
Submarine-launched ballistic missiles are the most survivable leg of a nuclear triad: hidden beneath the ocean, a missile submarine is extremely hard to find and destroy, guaranteeing a second-strike capability. A successful long-range test signals that China’s sea-based deterrent — built around its Jin-class submarines and JL-series missiles — is credible and operational at range.
For Pacific nations, the message lands differently. Smaller island states and regional powers alike have long resisted the militarisation of their ocean, and Monday’s test — however “routine” in Beijing’s framing — is a reminder that great-power competition is increasingly playing out in Pacific waters. With China’s nuclear arsenal expanding faster than any other, each such test will be watched closely from Tokyo to Wellington, and beyond.
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