In a rare show of military force, China test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Wednesday, sending it into the Pacific Ocean.
This marks a bold step in Beijing’s increasingly assertive military posture, especially concerning its nuclear capabilities.
The Chinese military's Rocket Force fired the missile at 08:44 local time, launching it from an undisclosed location. According to the defense ministry, the missile, carrying a dummy warhead, hit its designated target area in the Pacific Ocean.
“This is extremely unusual and likely the first time in decades that we’ve seen a test like this,” said Ankit Panda, Stanton Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Panda emphasized that this unprecedented test indicates China’s ongoing efforts to modernize its nuclear arsenal.
The timing is significant, as China’s nuclear development has been accelerating in recent years. The Pentagon warned last October that Beijing was advancing its nuclear capabilities faster than the U.S. had anticipated. By May 2023, China had more than 500 operational nuclear warheads, and projections indicate that number could exceedThe boost comes as China increasingly squares off with the United States and its regional partners from the South China Sea to Taiwan.
This month, senior military officials from China and the United States held “in-depth” talks as part of a bid by the powers to avoid wider tensions escalating into conflict.
Since its first nuclear test in 1964, China has been content to maintain a comparatively modest arsenal and has maintained that it will never be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict.
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