Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with a mock warhead was launched by the rocket troops of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at 8.44 a.m. Beijing time on Wednesday and “fell within the expected sea areas,” China’s defence ministry said in a statement, adding that it was “a normal measure as part of our annual exercise plan” and was not directed against any country or target.
Beijing had “informed the countries concerned in advance,” Xinhua news agency said in a separate report, which did not specify the missile’s flight path or where in the “open waters of the Pacific Ocean” it landed. The agency said the launch “successfully tested the effectiveness of weapons and equipment as well as the training level of troops and achieved the expected target.”
Analyst Ankit Panda told AFP news agency that China usually conducts such tests in its airspace. Panda, a Stanton senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said:
This is extremely unusual and likely the first time in decades that we’ve seen a test like this.
The PLA Missile Force, which oversees the country’s conventional and nuclear missiles, is tasked with upgrading China’s nuclear forces to improve US missile defences, improve surveillance capabilities and strengthen alliances. Beijing says it adheres to a “no-first-use” policy. The Chinese military emphasises that the Central Military Commission, headed by President Xi Jinping, is the sole nuclear command authority.
China, which has often been criticised by the US for not being transparent about its nuclear build-up, broke off nuclear talks with Washington in July over US arms sales to Taiwan.
China has more than 500 operational nuclear warheads in its arsenal, of which about 350 are ICBMs, and is likely to have more than 1,000 by 2030, the Pentagon estimated last year. That compares with the 1,770 and 1,710 warheads deployed by the US and Russia, respectively. The Pentagon said most of the PRC’s similar weapons are likely to be at higher readiness levels by 2030.
