SINGAPORE: China’s rare intercontinental ballistic missile ( ICBM ) test last month in the South Pacific- its first in 44 years- has raised questions over Beijing’s strategic ambitions.
The defense ministry of China’s defense ministry made the sudden news on September 25 less than two days after the ICBM launched at 8:44 am from Hainan. Chinese state media reported that the weapon “fell into expected water areas” to have met the intended target.
Although no indicated directly, advertising information in French Polynesia indicated the missile landed near the state’s economic zone.
The offending object, most likely the Dong Feng-31AG ( DF-31AG ), was loaded with a dummy warhead rather than the 1-megaton fissile material this type of missile is supposed to carry because it traveled more than 11, 000 kilometers from its launch site, which is twice the range of the most basic ICBMs, which have a range of 5, 500 km.
The decision to fire the older ( meaning it is more secure ), but still potent, tool may be interpreted as Beijing placing a greater value on a more reliable means of demonstrating its military prowess to the United States and its allies in the Indo-Pacific if the ICBM in issue was truly a version of the DF-31, which first entered service nearly 20 years ago.
Beijing was praised by some US leaders for giving the Pentagon advance notice to prevent misinterpretation and erroneous calculations, in addition to claiming the check was “routine” and not directed at any country.
Additionally, France, Australia, and New Zealand claim to have been given a copy of the check in progress. Some of them, in their opinion, would have relayed the information to their regional counterparts as well as to important government operating in those waters and aircraft. Japan and the Philippines were also alerted about a potential” place debris” getting at sea a few days before, though it’s not clear if they were informed of this information immediately.
However, not everyone who believe they had a right to know was impressed. For one, the Kiribati leader criticized the Chinese government for failing to notify the Pacific Island position, and added that the test was a danger to “world peace and stability.” In reply, China’s ambassador that stated” there was no need to update Kiribati” since the exam targeted no one in that part of the world.
The People’s Liberation Army ( PLA ) fired an ICBM into the Pacific Ocean earlier in the year, but this episode has a much lower level of advanced strategic messaging.
One must go back to a day when China had just come out of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution as his heirs sought to rehabilitate the nation with the world economy in order to understand the circumstances surrounding the former.