China fires off rare ICBM test amid growing tensions in Indo-Pacific

China announced on Wednesday, Sept. 25, that it test-fired an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) into the Pacific Ocean. The country is reportedly bulking up its nuclear arsenal, and the rare public test is sparking international concerns.

The People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLAARF) announced that the ICBM with a dummy warhead landed accurately in a “predetermined” area, but no specifics on the location were given.

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The Chinese Foreign Ministry maintains the test is a routine part of the PLAARF’s annual training and “in line with international law and international practice.” However, nuclear experts noted it’s anything but a regular occurrence, saying that it is the first time China has launched an ICBM into international waters since the early 80s, and one expert said it was “odd” for China to describe the test as routine and annual.

A former Pentagon official, Drew Thompson, who is a senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, believes that it is a veiled threat. He wrote on X, “Timing is everything,” and added, “This launch is a powerful signal intended to intimidate everyone.”

China’s state-run media reported Beijing notified “relevant countries” ahead of the launch.

The entirety of the Indo-Pacific region is on high alert, bracing for potential conflict, while watching China ramp up its nuclear arsenal. China’s nuclear weapons inventory is reportedly expected to at least triple by 2035 from 500 nuclear warheads currently to 1,500 in just about a decade.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry reported it detected 23 Chinese military aircraft around the Island on Wednesday, and all but one crossed the island’s “air-defense identification zone.”

All of these events happened the same week that Russia and China each sent four warships through a strait separating Russian and Japanese territory, according to the Japanese Defense Ministry on Monday, Sept. 23.

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It’s not just China and Russia causing concerns in the Asia-Pacific region, it’s also North Korea. The country fired several short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea last week for the second time in September as Pyongyang has ramped up its weapons testing since 2022.

North Korea claims that its weapon tests are in response to growing joint military exercises between the United States, South Korea, Taiwan and others in what it calls a rehearsal for invasion.

The South China Sea is also vitally important route for shipping that China claims to be theirs. There have been several confrontations between Beijing and other countries with which it has territorial disputes with, particularly, the Philippines.

In response, the U.S. has deployed an advanced missile system to the Philippines earlier this year as it sees China as a threat to the island country.