China's Missile Launch a Message to US 07/09 06:17

   

   BANGKOK (AP) -- When China launched a ballistic missile into the South 
Pacific Ocean on Monday, it was a rare test of a nuclear-capable weapons system 
that drew international rebuke.

   Arriving two years after a similar missile launch in international waters in 
the Pacific, the test by the People's Liberation Army caught the attention of 
small island nations whose leaders have increasingly urged bigger countries to 
stop using the vast oceanic region for power struggles. But Beijing's message 
was largely for just one country, experts say: the United States.

   "The most important message is the PLA is becoming a powerful military with 
a very strong strategic nuclear capability," said Tong Zhao, a senior fellow 
with the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International 
Peace, a think tank.

   The test, launched from a nuclear-powered submarine, was a demonstration of 
the sea-based leg of China's nuclear triad capability, which refers to the 
ability to have land, sea, and air-based nuclear systems.

   Further, it showed that China's military has what is called a second-strike 
capability, said Dominic Meagher, a research fellow at the Crawford School of 
Public Policy in Australia. That means even if China was attacked first, it 
still has the ability to strike back, because the ability to fire could be 
anywhere, in the ocean or on land.

   Beijing said the launch was part of annual exercises, suggesting that it may 
conduct similar launches in the future.

   "I would see this as a systematic move, not an isolated event," said K. 
Tristan Tang, Nonresident Fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research, in 
emailed comments.

   The missile testing comes as China is also racing to build more 
nuclear-powered submarines. In the past five years, China has been building 
these types of submarines faster than the U.S., according to a report from the 
International Institute for Strategic Studies, a think tank.

   For countries in the Pacific, launch recalls grim nuclear history

   However, the use of international waters, specifically treaty-protected 
waters where nuclear testing is prohibited, drew criticism from countries in 
the region. The waters of the South Pacific Ocean are contested because they're 
strategically important and rich with fishers and minerals.

   For Pacific nations, nuclear testing in particular recalls historical harm. 
The U.S., the UK and France have all detonated nuclear warheads in the Pacific, 
causing environmental contamination and health issues such as cancers and birth 
defects that some island nations say they are still recording generations later.

   "Those tests resulted in outrage and resulted in treaties to prevent future 
tests, and that includes the nuclear test ban treaty and the Treaty of 
Rarotonga, said Meagher. "These kinds of missile tests haven't been conducted 
since."

   Monday's missile landed in the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone, which was 
established by the 1986 Rarotonga accord, which prohibits nuclear weapons 
throughout the region. China ratified the protocols in 1987 that prohibit 
testing nuclear weapons within the zone or threatening to use them against 
signatories with territory in the region.

   Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale, speaking to reporters in the 
Solomon capital Honiara Tuesday, said, "China is a good friend of Solomon 
Islands, but this is not something a friend does. This is not ... good in our 
region."

   While U.S. forces still conduct nuclear missile testing in the Pacific, they 
avoid the treaty area, Meagher said.

   Beijing conducted the test with short notice, other leaders say

   Australia and New Zealand both said they were not given enough prior notice 
about the test, and other countries like Japan said it was done without 
transparency. Canberra and Wellington are two of the South Pacific's biggest 
powers and have grown anxious about Beijing's attempts to vie for sway in the 
region.

   Bilateral deals between China and the leaders of small Pacific nations have 
prompted Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to embark on a charm 
offensive of his own. That has included defense and security pacts inked with 
Vanuatu, Fiji and Papua New Guinea in the past year.

   On Tuesday, Albanese decried the missile launch as "a provocative act by 
China which does destabilize the region," when he spoke to reporters in 
Honiara, where he was holding talks with officials. Australia and the Solomon 
Islands are in the process of negotiating a comprehensive treaty.

   "The fact that this test took place yesterday with very little notice is of 
real concern," he added.

   China has defended its actions and said it gave countries in the area 
appropriate notice. "China informed the relevant countries in advance, which 
demonstrates the openness and transparency of the Chinese military," according 
to a statement from its Defense Ministry issued Tuesday.

   Experts say that if there is a standard, it would be the Hague Code of 
Conduct which sets out regulations on ballistic missiles and their use. It 
expects states to provide notice at least 24 hours beforehand, but the code is 
not legally binding. Further, Tang said, China is not a member of the Hague 
Code of Conduct.

   Much speculation remains around what was fired and when.

   The People's Liberation Army is known to make very little information 
public, but the secretary-general of Taiwan's National Security Council said on 
Wednesday that this was a JL-2 missile launched from waters off Guangdong, a 
southern Chinese province. The JL-2 is an older ballistic missile for 
submarines.

   Chinese state media, on the other hand, presented experts saying it was 
likely a JL-3, which has a longer range than the JL-2. "The JL-3's range can 
strike a target on the east side of the Pacific from the west side," said Shao 
Yonglin, a military expert featured in an interview with state broadcaster CCTV.

   As China becomes a major military power, it should expect more international 
scrutiny. If "China wants to become a major military power, it should be put 
under the same standards," as countries such as the U.S., the U.K. and France, 
said Zhao, the nuclear expert.