China test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile with a dummy warhead into “the high seas of the Pacific Ocean,” the country’s Ministry of National Defense reported Wednesday.
“The missile fell into expected sea areas,” the ministry stated in a news release posted to its website. “This test launch is a routine arrangement in our annual training plan. It is in line with international law and international practice and is not directed against any country or target.”
China "informed the countries concerned in advance," according to a separate Xinhua news agency report, which did not specify the missile’s path or where it landed in the Pacific.
The launch "effectively tested the performance of weapons and equipment and the training level of the troops, and achieved the expected goal," Xinhua reported.
In 1980, China launched an ICBM into the South Pacific, the Associated Press reported, noting that a map published in Chinese newspapers at the time showed the target area as roughly a circle in the center of a ring formed by the Solomon Islands, Nauru, the Gilbert Islands, Tuvalu, Samoa, Fiji and the New Hebrides.
An analyst told Agence France-Presse that China has typically conducted such tests in its own airspace.
"This is extremely unusual and likely the first time in decades that we've seen a test like this," Ankit Panda, Stanton Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said.
The test "likely speaks to China’s ongoing nuclear modernization manifesting in new requirements for testing," he added.
Taiwan's defense ministry said on Wednesday it had detected 23 Chinese military aircraft operating around Taiwan, and also recently detected "intensive" Chinese missile firing and other drills.
Taiwan has dispatched its own air and naval forces to keep watch, the ministry said.
Information from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse was included in this report.
