China test-launches a ballistic missile in a South Pacific nuclear-free zone

Australia, Japan and New Zealand criticized the launch.

The New Zealand government said it was informed of the planned launch hours beforehand and noted that the missile was fired into the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone.

The nuclear-free zone was established by the 1986 Treaty of Rarotonga, which prohibits nuclear weapons throughout the region. China in 1987 ratified the protocols pledging not to test nuclear weapons within the zone, or to threaten to use them against signatories with territory in the region.

“It appears that despite our long-standing concerns about this type of activity, China carried out the test within hours of informing us,” Foreign Minister Winston Peters told The Associated Press in a statement.

The launch took place the same day Australia and Fiji signed a new mutual defense treaty that was meant to counter Chinese influence in the Pacific.

“Australia has been clear with China that we regard this as destabilizing to the region,” Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong told reporters in Fiji, in response to the test.

Japan’s Defense Ministry in a statement conveyed its concern about China’s increasing military activity and asked Beijing to “rethink” its missile testing so the projectiles would not fly over Japan or pose other security risks.

China has a fleet of six ballistic-missile submarines, and 59 nuclear-powered attack submarines, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a Washington-based think tank.

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Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand.

Huizhong Wu And Charlotte Graham-mclay, The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

China test-launches a ballistic missile in a South Pacific nuclear-free zone

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