China’s test of a nuclear-capable missile last month has exposed the limits of Pacific leaders’ ambition to make the region an “Ocean of Peace”, free from the crossfire of major-power rivalry.
The July launch, China’s first known ballistic-missile test into the Pacific since September 2024, was fired into the Pacific just hours after Fiji and Australia signed a major defence treaty, marking Fiji’s first ever alliance.
More than a month after the test, Pacific Islands foreign ministers were unable to agree on a collective statement condemning Beijing’s missile test, despite individual leaders expressing alarm, publicly and privately, about militarisation of the region.
The test was “totally inappropriate”, Papua New Guinea Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko told Reuters on the sidelines of the foreign ministers’ meeting in Suva last week.
“China is a very close friend and ally to Papua New Guinea, but we feel this doesn’t help at all,” he said, adding that Beijing had given PNG advance notice of the launch but no details on where the missile would land.
At the time of the launch, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said it was conducted “safely”, adding: “We hope relevant countries will not over-interpret the matter.”
The missile launch capped a year of more visible military activity across the Pacific, which is fiercely contested between the U.S. and China for influence. That has included Chinese naval deployments and live-fire drills in the Tasman Sea, U.S.-allied exercises around Guam and Hawaii, and a steady flow of warship visits linked to expanding security partnerships.
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