Pacific Leaders React to Beijing’s Missile Test, Urge Respect for Region

The missile test conducted by Beijing has caused shock and concern among Pacific nation leaders, who were not notified prior to the launch.

The intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), launched on Sept. 25, reportedly landed in the ocean approximately 700 kilometres (435 miles) away from French Polynesia’s Marquesas Islands, outside its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

This is the first time in over four decades that Beijing has launched an ICBM into the Pacific Ocean. It is believed to be a Dong Feng-41, an ICBM known for its maximum range of 12,000 to 15,000 kilometres, making it China’s longest-range missile.

Capable of carrying up to 10 independently targetable nuclear warheads (MIRVs), the missile can strike multiple targets simultaneously with an accuracy of about 100 metres.

The missile launched towards French Polynesia was equipped with a mock warhead, as stated in an official statement by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

France has responded with little reaction, with the French High Commissioner in French Polynesia, Eric Spitz, noting that the missile landed in international waters and that Beijing had informed French authorities before the launch. Australia, New Zealand, and the United States were also notified.

However, French Polynesia and other small Pacific countries were not informed of the missile launch.

Regional Tensions

Teva Rohfritsch, French Polynesia’s MP in the French Senate, expressed that the islands’ population was “profoundly shocked” by the CCP’s missile launch.

He shared the text of a letter sent to French President Emmanuel Macron to convey his concerns and request Paris to send a “strong and clear” message.

“We are told this is a normal yearly exercise (but the previous launch dates back from the 1980s) and that international right was respected, all things of which I am not totally convinced,” he wrote.

“This cannot be left without reaction from our nation, at the highest level, for the sake of peace in our Pacific world and more particularly the French Pacific islands.”

Rohfritsch emphasized that France should “reassure our populations” by deploying appropriate military and diplomatic resources to “preserve peace in our region.”

The president of the territory, pro-independence Moetai Brotherson, indicated that he would seek clarification from Spitz and Macron, expressing his concerns to Beijing’s diplomatic representative in French Polynesia.

“I will personally hand over a letter in which I express our stand with regards to this launch, as well as our disappointment on the fact that we had not been informed about this launch being directed towards our waters,” Brotherson stated.

“But what this launch really points out is all this tension in the Pacific area. We all know these two superpowers are there, observing each other, gauging each other, testing each other. And we, in the middle of all this, we are like a grain of rice in the ocean,” he shared with local media.

Beijing’s Consul General, Lixiao Tian, informed reporters that the launch was part of a yearly training programme and asserted that it posed no threat.

During a celebration later that day commemorating the CCP’s 75th anniversary, he formally extended an invitation to Brotherson and a delegation for a trip to China.

Fiji Takes Concerns to the UN

However, Pacific leaders, who feel increasingly ignored as larger countries pursue regional dominance, are no longer as easily reassured.

Fiji took its concerns to the United Nations, with the country’s president, Ratu Viliame Katonivere, using a speech to call for an immediate halt to the testing.

“We urge respect for our region, and call for cessation of such action under principle four of the Ocean of Peace, as was endorsed by the Pacific leaders in Tonga last month,” he stated.

“Our statement reinforces the Pacific’s peaceful example to uphold international law and urge others to refrain from actions that undermine peace and security in the blue Pacific.”

New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters deemed the launch a “concerning development.”

“We remain in the process of gathering further information,” he mentioned. “Pacific Leaders have clearly articulated their expectation that we have a peaceful, stable, prosperous, and secure region. As part of the region, New Zealand strongly supports that expectation.”

Rising Military Aggression

Analysts suggested that the CCP’s rare announcement of the test was a warning to the United States and its allies amid escalating tensions in surrounding waters—from the East China Sea and the Taiwan Strait to the South China Sea—that intervention in a conflict in the region could leave America vulnerable to attack.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Defence confirmed detecting 23 CCP military aircraft operating near its territory on the same day as the missile test. It noted that Beijing had recently conducted intensive missile firing and other military drills near the self-ruled island.

In recent weeks, Japan has strongly protested incursions by Chinese and Russian military aircraft into its airspace.

Chinese and Philippine vessels have also been involved in multiple collisions near Sabina Shoal.

According to the Pentagon’s annual assessment of China’s military capabilities, the CCP possessed over 500 operational nuclear warheads as of 2023 and is projected to have over 1,000 by 2030.