China's Submarine-Launched Missile Test Sparks Regional Concern

The nuclear-capable missile that China test-fired from a submarine yesterday flew over multiple Pacific nations and appears to have hit waters close to Tuvalu's exclusive economic zone.

China had called the launch "routine", but both Australia and New Zealand sharply criticised the missile test and labelled it "destabilising."

Overnight, the head of Taiwan's national security council, Joseph Wu, posted an image to social media that showed the missile arcing across Micronesia and Melanesia, before plunging into the ocean roughly 1,000 kilometres north-east of Solomon Islands.

Mr Wu — who has long been a vocal critic of China — called the test "a provocation that destabilises the Indo-Pacific."

Some Pacific officials have also expressed unease about the test to the ABC , but so far no Pacific nations have issued any public statements criticising Beijing's actions.

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, inlcuding the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru and Kiribati.

It landed closest to the EEZs of the Pacific nations 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.

Missile shows 'significant' range capability of China

Defence Minister Richard Marles would not be drawn on the missile's trajectory, saying it "wasn't particularly close to Australia" but that he would not "go into the detail."

"And I think that's what people need to focus on. This is a very significant capability in terms of the range that's been demonstrated and the means by which it's been launched from a submarine."

He also called the launch "very concerning and deeply destabilising."

"This is a long-range missile which China itself has said would be nuclear-capable, which has been launched from a submarine, which also implies something in terms of extending China's range to deploy nuclear weapons," he said.

"What we are about is trying to establish a peaceful Pacific, and what this is about is undermining that."