China Fires Intercontinental Ballistic Missile into Pacific, Sparking Regional Concerns
For the first time, Beijing has fired an intercontinental ballistic missile into the waters of the Pacific from a nuclear-powered submarine.
The missile carried a dummy warhead, Chinese state media said, and the exact landing location is still unknown.
The head of Taiwan's national security council, Joseph Wu, posted an image on social media showing the missile arcing across Micronesia and Melanesia, before plunging into the ocean.
The ABC has been told the missile, which was armed with a dummy warhead, flew over the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of at least three Pacific island states, including the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru and Kiribati.
It landed closest to the EEZs of Tuvalu and Kiribati, about 1,000km north-east of Solomon Islands, and seems to have hit the water near the border of Tuvalu's EEZ, or potentially even just inside it.
Speaking in Honiara alongside the prime minister of the Solomon Islands, Matthew Wale, Anthony Albanese said Australia has raised the test with China directly.
"We have made clear our concerns to China in both Beijing and Canberra, and I am making clear our concerns here as well in Honiara," he said.
The Australian prime minister also noted that ordinarily a test like this would come with 48 hours' notice, which he said was not provided by China.
Matthew Wale directly criticised the missile test, becoming the first Pacific leader to do so and acting as the current chair of the Pacific Islands Forum.
"China is a good friend of the Solomon Islands, but this is not something a friend does. This is not good in our region," he said.
"And as chair of the Pacific Islands Forum I have registered my strong protest yesterday with the ambassador. Solomon Islands also lodged a protest note.
"We don't want to see any more countries — China, America, anybody — testing [intercontinental ballistic missiles in the Pacific Islands region, that's the bottom line.
"Be our friend, but don't threaten us."
ABC Pacific
