China pushes back on US-led call for advance notice of future missile tests

By Mary Lyn Fonua Chinese diplomats have pushed back on a joint statement signed by 40 countries, following a Chinese SLBM missile test in the Pacific Islands, with Australia, New Zealand, the Marshall Islands and Palau joining a US-led call for advance notice for future launches. The Chinese say there is a double standard in the demands. China tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) into the Pacific Ocean on July 6, 2026. The missile carried a dummy warhead and landed in international open waters in the South Pacific. The US-led statement of 11 August called for "all relevant countries" to commit to providing no less than 24 hours' notice of launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles to affected nations. Ambassador Li Chijiang, China’s Ambassador for Disarmament Affairs at a Conference on Disarmament last week said the US demand had no legal basis, because the Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (“HCOC”) is not a universally joined mechanism. “China, as a non-member of the HCOC, is not bound by it.” However, he said that 24 hours prior to China’s test launch in July this year, China had provided pre-launch notifications to other nuclear-weapon states, including the U.S., Russia, the U.K., and France, as well as Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand and other Pacific island countries around the missile impact area. To date, China has conducted only three ICBM launch tests. He alleged that “The U.S. has conducted over 300 ICBM test launches and about 200 SLBM test launches, and most of its ICBM test launches have taken place in the Pacific Ocean. “But the U.S. has not provided China with advance notifications in recent years, except on only one occasion.” Regional response The only regional signatories to the US-led statement were Palau, which is hosting the Pacific Islands Forum in September, the Marshall Islands, Australia and New Zealand. Tonga did not sign the US-led statement and, like other Pacific Islands states, has not overtly criticised the Chinese missile test, while making carefully crafted diplomatic statements.. On 23 July Tonga's Prime Minister Lord Fakafanua highlighted China's duty in Pacific countries to ensure our shared regional environment is one that is “safe and secure”. He was speaking at a reception in Nuku'alofa to celebrate the 99th anniversary of Chinese People’s Liberation Army. Lord Fakafanua said Tonga and the People's Republic of China had enduring diplomatic relations and long standing partnership. “These ever-shifting ties embody the partnership, its resilience, and transformation while also highlighting China's growing duty in Pacific countries, like Tonga, to ensure our shared regional environment is one that is safe and secure, especially where international peacekeeping and humanitarian support prevails.” He said Tonga was committed to peaceful dialogue and principled multilateralism, whether through the Pacific Islands Forum, or the United Nations. “Such multilateral and regional institutions are needed now more than ever. The global uncertainties of today demand that these are the cornerstones of our foreign engagement,” Lord Fakafanua said. At the function hosted by the Chinese Embassy in Tonga, Ambassador H.E. Liu Weimin, said that China respected the aspirations of regional countries to maintain the South Pacific as a nuclear free zone.