Japan says China’s Pacific missile launch raises security concerns
Tokyo says it will monitor developments closely after Beijing fires a dummy-warhead missile from a nuclear submarine into the Pacific, while China calls the launch routine and safe.
- Japan's government officially expressed concern over China's missile launch into the Pacific, viewing it as a security issue for the nation and the region.
- In response to the launch, Tokyo announced it will increase surveillance activities and closely monitor China's military developments.
- The missile did not pass over Japanese territory or its exclusive economic zone, but Japan had previously urged Beijing to cancel the launch, citing safety risks.
- Japan's concern is part of a broader criticism of China's military activities, which it says lack transparency and are a serious matter for the international community.
Japan said on Monday (July 6) it was concerned by China’s missile launch into the Pacific Ocean, with Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara saying Tokyo would step up surveillance and closely follow any further developments.
“We are concerned (over the missile launch) in light of the security of our nation and the region,” Kihara told a press conference.
“We will fully engage in surveillance activities and closely monitor related developments.”
Kihara said the missile had not been confirmed to have passed over Japanese territory or Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
He added that there had been no information about damage to aircraft or ships.
He declined to comment on Beijing’s intentions, but said: “China’s military activities, including a lack of transparency, have become a matter of serious concern to Japan and the international community.”
Kihara also avoided saying whether a hotline between Japanese and Chinese defence authorities had been used in connection with the launch.
“We will continue to communicate with Beijing and respond calmly and appropriately from the perspective of (protecting Japan’s) national interests,” he said.
China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported that a strategic missile carrying a dummy warhead was fired towards the Pacific from a nuclear-powered Chinese navy submarine at 12.01pm local time on Monday.
The apparent submarine-launched ballistic missile “landed precisely within the designated waters” in the high seas, the Chinese navy said.
Beijing described the launch as “a routine arrangement” under the navy’s annual exercise plans, saying it “complies with international law and international practice” and was “not directed at any specific country or target”.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning also told a press conference: “The whole process was safe, standard and professional. We hope relevant countries will not read too much into it.”
According to the Japanese government, China’s maritime authorities had notified the Japan Coast Guard on Sunday of a temporary zone in waters south of Cape Shionomisaki in Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, where space debris might fall.
Part of that zone overlapped with Japan’s exclusive economic zone, leading the coast guard to issue a navigation warning and the transport ministry to release related information for aircraft.
China’s Ministry of National Defence informed the Japanese Embassy in Beijing on Monday morning about the missile launch plan.
Japan responded by conveying serious concern over China’s growing military activity and urging Beijing to cancel a launch it said could endanger Japan’s safety.
The launch comes amid tensions between the administration of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government.
Beijing has expressed frustration over Takaichi’s remarks last November on a possible Taiwan contingency, as well as her defence policy, including the effective removal of Japan’s arms export ban in April this year.
The missile launch is widely viewed as a warning to Japan and to US President Donald Trump’s administration, which is considering arms sales to Taiwan.
China regards Taiwan as a renegade province and places it at the centre of its core interests.
According to the South China Morning Post, an English-language newspaper in Hong Kong, this is the first time since 1982 that the Chinese military has publicly disclosed an SLBM test launch, and the first time it has ever announced a launch from a nuclear submarine.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
