China fires ICBM into Pacific Ocean in first such public test in decades as regional tensions flare

Hong Kong CNN —

China says it successfully fired an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, a rare public test that analysts said was meant to send a message to the United States and its allies amid heightened regional tensions.

An ICBM carrying a dummy warhead was launched at 8:44 a.m. Beijing time and fell into a designated area in the high seas of the Pacific Ocean, the Chinese Defense Ministry said in a statement. It did not specify the missile’s flight path or landing location.

The ministry said the launch, by the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, was part of its routine annual training and not directed at any country or target. It comes as China and Russia conduct joint naval exercises in nearby seas close to Japan.

The launch “effectively tested the performance of weapons and equipment as well as the training level of the troops, and achieved the expected objectives,” state news agency Xinhua said in a separate report, adding that China had “notified relevant countries in advance” of the test.

A Pentagon spokesperson said the US received “some advanced notification” of the test from Beijing, calling it “a step in the right direction … to preventing any misperception or miscalculation.”

Military vehicles carrying DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missiles appear in a parade in Beijing on October 1, 2019.

Wednesday’s launch marks the first time China has tested an ICBM over the Pacific Ocean in more than four decades.

In 1980, China test-fired its first ICBM, the DF-5, into the South Pacific from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the country’s northwest, traversing a distance of more than 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles).

China has quietly conducted more ICBM tests since