The ballistic missile launch is a sign of the commitment of Xi Jinping, China’s leader, to continue strengthening the country’s Rocket Force and to project power in Asia.
China launched an intercontinental ballistic missile carrying a dummy warhead that landed in the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, the country’s defense ministry announced, in a sign of President Xi Jinping’s commitment to keep strengthening China’s missile force after a period of corruption scandals and command turbulence.
The launch appeared to be the first time in 44 years that China has publicly announced a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile in the Pacific region. It was fired by the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force and struck in the “high seas,” China’s Ministry of National Defense said, without giving details of where the dummy warhead fell, what model of missile carried it or where it was launched. It said the dummy warhead “fell precisely into the assigned seas.”
“This missile launch was a routine part of the Rocket Force’s annual exercises,” the ministry said, adding that it “was not aimed at any specific country or target.” China’s official news agency, Xinhua, stated that Beijing had notified “the relevant countries” about the missile test, without elaborating. China usually tests its missiles within its own borders.
China’s assurances appeared unlikely to dispel questions about the test from experts and officials in the region. Such missiles fly in an arc high above the earth and can deliver warheads thousands of miles, making them a pillar of each superpower’s nuclear capabilities. China has about 134 intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, that can deliver around 240 warheads, according to an annual survey from the Federation of American Scientists, a bit under half of the numbers fielded by the United States or Russia.
“It is difficult to hide a ballistic missile launch into the Pacific, so it is sensible for Beijing to announce that it took place and control the narrative,” said Drew Thomson, a former Pentagon official who is now a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
“China is sending a signal,” Mr. Thomson said. “This ballistic missile test puts China’s adversaries on notice that there are limits to its forbearance, and it also underscores the Communist Party’s acute sense of risk and vulnerability.”
