Chinese Nuclear Submarine Tests Long-Range Projectile

 

 

“HONG KONG -- China's military on Monday said it test-launched a long-range ballistic missile from a nuclear submarine, a rare display of advanced capabilities that set off concerns from the U.S. and its allies across Asia and the Pacific.

 

The missile carried a simulated warhead to a designated area in the Pacific Ocean, state media reported Senior Captain Wang Xuemeng, a spokesman for China's navy, as saying.

 

China sought to play down the event as unexceptional, even as some countries in the region were quick to criticize it. The test was "a routine part of China's annual military training program," Wang said. It was carried out in accordance with international law and "not directed against any specific country or target," he added.

 

It wasn't clear where the test missile landed. Notices posted by Chinese aeronautical and maritime organizations indicate the missile flew to the South Pacific, said Tianran Xu, an analyst for the Open Nuclear Network, a Vienna-based research organization.

 

Before Monday's test, China had placed at least three long-range tracking ships in the Western Pacific Ocean in waters between New Guinea and Guam, according to maritime monitoring databases, which would have given a good vantage of the flight path.

 

State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said the U.S. monitored the launch. "Beijing's rapid and opaque nuclear weapons buildup is of great concern to the region and the world," he said.

 

Penny Wong, Australia's foreign minister, said China had informed Australia of the test, but added: "Australia has been clear with China that we regard this as destabilizing to the region."

 

Wong also said Australia was concerned given the context of the test, which she described as a "rapid military buildup by China, which is lacking in the transparency and reassurance as to intent that the region expects."

 

Wong spoke as she was traveling in Fiji, which on Monday signed a defense treaty with Australia. The deal represents a key step in Australian efforts to shore up security ties in a region where China has increased its influence.

 

Japan, which said it was alerted on Sunday that some space debris could fall into waters in its exclusive economic zone, also condemned the launch.

 

Japan raised "serious concern over the intensification of China's military activities and strongly urged China to reconsider its actions," it said.

 

The test was likely of a JL-2 or a newer JL-3 missile that traveled a distance of more than 4,350 miles, Xu said. The JL-2 can travel 4,350 miles or more while the JL-3 has an estimated range of more than 6,000 miles. Both are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

 

Such missiles can also be launched from land, with tests typically carried out in western China.

 

Monday's submarine-launched ballistic missile marked "a huge contrast" from China's long-running practice of launching missiles in the desert within its own borders and refraining from firing them into the Pacific, where its neighbors might complain, Xu said. "This in itself is I think a show of strength or signaling," he said.

 

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has pushed the military to upgrade its nuclear capabilities as part of broader modernization efforts. In recent years, China's military has built roughly 350 new missile silos and bases for road-mobile launchers, the Federation of American Scientists said. It has also upgraded long-range bombers to carry ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads, according to Pentagon reports on Chinese military capabilities.” [1]

 

1. World News: Chinese Nuclear Submarine Tests Long-Range Projectile. Austin Ramzy.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 07 July 2026: A5.