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Updated July 6, 2026 — 4:00pm,first published 2:17pm
A Chinese submarine has launched a nuclear-capable long-range missile with a dummy warhead in the Pacific Ocean, drawing speedy condemnations from Australia and New Zealand, who labelled the test destabilising and concerning.
The firing of the long-range missile came just hours after Australia and Fiji struck a new defence alliance that commits them to come to each other’s aid if they come under attack.
Chinese state-owned media outlet Xinhua reported that at 12.01pm on Monday a “strategic nuclear submarine of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy successfully launched a submarine-launched ballistic missile carrying a simulated training warhead into the high seas of the Pacific Ocean”.
“The missile accurately landed in the designated area,” Xinhua reported. “This missile test was a routine part of China’s annual military training program, and relevant countries had been notified in advance.
“It is in accordance with international law and practice and is not directed against any specific country or target.”
Diplomatic sources confirmed to this masthead that Chinese officials had briefed various regional governments, including Australia and New Zealand, about an intercontinental ballistic missile test in the Pacific on Monday.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said: “Australia has been clear with China that we regard this as destabilising to the region.”
Speaking before confirmation the test had been carried out, Wong said the test came “in the context of a rapid military build-up by China, which is lacking in the transparency and reassurance as to intent that the region expects”.
Wong said Pacific leaders had made clear “they want the Pacific to be an Ocean of Peace. We believe this test is inconsistent with that objective.”
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said he was “deeply concerned by China’s testing of nuclear-capable weapons in the South Pacific”, complaining the test was carried out only hours after notice was given to Pacific nations.
“New Zealand considers this an unwelcome and concerning development,” Peters said.
“We, like our neighbours in other Pacific countries, have no interest in China using the South Pacific as a testing site for missile capability.”
Peters said the missile was fired into the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone established by the Treaty of Rarotonga, as he flagged further discussions with Pacific nations in response to the test.
“We as a region should not sit by and allow such tests to become normalised or routine,” he said.
Defence Minister Richard Marles told reporters he did not believe the test was designed as retaliation for the defence treaty struck between Australia and Fiji.
China previously test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean in September 2024, the first such test since 1980.
The 2024 test involved the firing of a missile carrying a dummy warhead from Hainan Island, a Chinese province in the South China Sea.
It travelled about 11,500 kilometres before landing in waters in the exclusive economic zone of French Polynesia. China’s defence ministry said at the time that the test was a “legitimate and routine arrangement for military training”, in line with international law and not aimed at any country or target.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Justin Bassi said the Chinese test-firing “represents an escalation in its ongoing military expansion and sends a deeply concerning strategic signal to Australia and the wider Indo-Pacific”.
“This latest demonstration of military power reinforces concerns that the Chinese Communist Party is seeking to reshape the regional order through intimidation, coercion and the projection of military strength rather then through genuine partnership and mutual respect.”
China’s embassy in Canberra were contacted for comment.
The Chinese navy conducted live-firing exercises in the Tasman Sea in February 2025, forcing commercial airlines to change their flight routes.
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