China tests long-range missile in South Pacific - Samoa Global News
China has conducted a long-range missile test in the South Pacific just hours after Australia signed a defence agreement with Fiji, sparking condemnation from Canberra and regional leaders. New Zealand Foreign Minister, Vaovasamanaia Winston Peters, described it as “deeply concerning”. The Australian foreign minister, Penny Wong, said the missile test was “destabilising” to the region.
China has conducted a long-range missile test in the South Pacific just hours after Australia signed a defence agreement with Fiji, sparking condemnation from Canberra and regional leaders. New Zealand Foreign Minister, Vaovasamanaia Winston Peters, described it as “deeply concerning”. The Australian foreign minister, Penny Wong, said the missile test was “destabilising” to the region. “I can confirm that the Australian government has been advised by the government of the People’s Republic of China of their intent to conduct a sea-based missile test into the Pacific. . “Australia has been clear with China that we regard this as destabilising to the region,” Wong said from Fiji, where she was travelling with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese. A test missile topped with a dummy warhead landed in “designated waters” of the Pacific, China’s state news agency Xinhua reported on Monday. According to the Chinese news agency, the missile test was a “routine arrangement” of China’s annual military training, with prior notification to relevant countries, Xinhua said. The exact location of the test was unknown. The New Zealand government said it was informed of the planned launch hours beforehand, and noted that it was fired into the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone. The test came just hours after Australia and Fijisigned a major defence alliance, committing each country to come to the other’s aid in the event of an attack. Penny Wong has added that China’s actions go against the Ocean of Peace alliance. “Australia has been clear that this proposal, this proposed test, is 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. I would make this point, the Pacific Islands Forum leaders have made clear that they want the Pacific to be an Ocean of Peace. We believe this test is inconsistent with that objective. Malcolm Davis, a senior defence analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, was certain the timing of the test was not a coincidence. “[The test] is clearly an indication that China will use military force, or the threat of military force, to try to intimidate and coerce small Pacific states into not seeking closer relations with Australia,” he said. Samoa’s leading provider of ICT Solutions. However, Australia’s Assistant Foreign Minister, Matt Thistlethwaite, told the ABC the government did not believe there was a link between the alliance announcement and the test. Australia’s Acting Prime Minister, Richard Marles, said China had only informed his country on Monday of its plans to conduct a long-range missile test in the Pacific region, with reports that it was a nuclear-capable device with a dummy warhead. BSL“We were informed by China today of its intention to do this test,” Marles said in a press conference on Monday afternoon. “This is a long-range missile test, and we are very concerned about any actions which undermine the stability, the peace, and security of the Pacific,” he said. Xinhua reported soon after that the test had been conducted. “Pne strategic nuclear submarine of the navy successfully launched a strategic missile carrying a dummy warhead toward relevant high seas of the Pacific Ocean, which landed precisely within the designated waters,” Xinhua reported online. A statement from the Japanese government said it had tried to convince China not to fire the test missile, and had “expressed serious concerns over China’s increasing military activity”. AuthorRecent PostsPost Views:79