(Indian Express Explained): Why Indo-Pacific powers, including India, should worry about China’s new ballistic missile test

The Indian Express

Beijing has increasingly displayed its improving nuclear capabilities over the last decade. For New Delhi, the test reinforces the widening strategic gap between their nuclear arsenal and delivery capabilities — qualitatively and quantitatively.

China tested its sea-based long-range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) last week (July 6), marking its first-ever test of a submarine-based ballistic missile in international waters.

Equally importantly, this is the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) second launch of a ballistic missile in international waters since 1980. China conducted a land-based ICBM test using the Dong Feng or DF-31 delivery system on September 21, 2024.

The latest test missile was reportedly launched from a PLA Navy Jin-class Type 094 submarine based in the South China Sea. It was carrying a dummy warhead that covered a distance of 7,300 km, reportedly flying over the Philippines, before landing in the Southern Pacific Ocean. The dummy warhead landed within an area designated under the Treaty of Rarotonga’s South Pacific nuclear-free zone (where testing or stationing of nuclear explosive devices is barred), after it flew over the Exclusive Economic Zones of Micronesia, Nauru, Kiribati, and Tuvalu.

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