BEIJING: A Chinese submarine test-fired a “strategic” missile carrying a dummy warhead into the Pacific Ocean on Monday, Beijing said, drawing immediate condemnation from nations in the region.

China made the rare show of its military might on the same day Australia and Fiji signed a major defence treaty, bolstering their ties as Canberra seeks to outmanoeuvre Beijing in the strategically important South Pacific.

New Zealand described the test as involving a nuclear-capable “long-range ballistic missile”, but China’s defence and foreign ministries did not confirm whether an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) had been used.

Monday’s test followed two years after China’s elite Rocket Force fired an ICBM into the sea near French Polynesia, its first launch of such a missile over international waters in more than 40 years.

A nuclear submarine launched a “strategic missile carrying a training simulation warhead” at 12:01pm (0401 GMT), a Chinese navy statement said, adding that it had “accurately land(ed) in the designated sea area”.

Alex Luck, a naval analyst focused on Chinese military modernisation, said that the missile could have been the advanced submarine-launched ballistic missile JL-3, an extended-range variant of China’s JL-2. The JL-3 was showcased at a military parade in Beijing last September. However, Luck said it was “equally plausible” a JL-2 had been tested.

Navy spokesperson Wang Xuemeng said in the statement shared on WeChat that the test launch was “a routine arrangement of China’s annual military training”, and that “relevant countries were informed in advance”. New Zealand’s foreign minister said the launch was carried out “within hours” of his country being told.

“The Pacific is an Ocean of Peace and we are deeply concerned by China’s testing of nuclear-capable weapons into the South Pacific,” Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement, adding that the launch “is not consistent with regional stability”.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2026