Beijing sends four surveillance ships across Pacific ahead of nuclear missile test as flight path released

Beijing deployed at least four high-tech space surveillance ships across the Pacific ahead of Monday’s test-firing of a nuclear-capable missile, including a vessel that arrived in Fiji just days before the nation signed a defence treaty with Australia.

Maritime data obtained by The Nightly reveals the Chinese scientific research vessels were positioned around the likely target zone ready to monitor a People’s Liberation Army-Navy submarine launch the long-range weapon carrying a dummy warhead.

Chinese Navy spokesman Senior Captain Wang Xuemeng confirmed on Monday the warhead “precisely hit the designated target waters in the Pacific Ocean”, but did not detail specifically where it landed.

In a brief statement he noted Monday’s missile test was a “routine arrangement as part of China’s annual military training”, insisting Beijing had provided prior notification to relevant countries.

“The test complied with international law and established international practices and was not targeted at any specific country or target,” he added.

Late on Monday evening a senior Taiwanese official released an image of the apparent flight path of the Chinese submarine launched ballistic missile, showing the warhead hitting waters near Tuvalu and Nauru.

The head of Taiwan’s national security council, Joseph Wu, posted the map claiming the submarine-launched JL2 weapon had flown over the Philippines, landing roughly 800-1000km north-east of Solomon Islands.

“It’s a provocation that destabilises the Indo-Pacific. China just proved itself again to be a bully on the block,” Mr Wu wrote online.

Commercially produced vessel tracking data compiled for The Nightly reveals that at least four high-tech Chinese satellite tracking vessels were deployed to the region in the days leading up to Beijing’s missile test.

In early July the Yuan Wang 5 satellite-tracking and telemetry vessel berthed in Fiji’s capital Suva, just days before Prime Minister Anthony Albanese flew into the city to to sign a defence treaty with the Pacific nation.

At the same time, the Yuan Wang 3, also used for surveillance and communication of intercontinental ballistic missiles, was tracked operating in international waters off the Philippines, while sister ship Yuan Wang 6 was near the Federated States of Micronesia.

Further south, the Liao Wang 1, China’s newest spy ship, designed to monitor military satellites and track missile launches, was also recorded operating in waters north-east of Solomon Islands.

The PLA Navy has published images of the weapons test but not released details of the specific type of submarine or missile involved in the operation, the launch and hit locations of the missile, or the distance covered by the warhead.

According to Chinese state media, the last time Beijing publicised the flight test of a submarine-based ballistic missile was in September 1988, when a Type 09II submarine launched two JL-1 nuclear-capable missiles from the Bohai Sea.

Former soldier and defence commentator Steve Baxter says this week’s missile firing is a wake-up call for Australia which is not spending nearly enough on defence and should prompt the Government to have frank conversations with the public. “It came down west of the Solomon Islands. Not the Taiwan Strait. Not the South China Sea. Near where many of us go on holidays,” the founder of Beaten Zone Venture Partners told The Nightly.

The Global Times, a Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece, defended Monday’s missile launch over the South Pacific as “necessary and restrained”, telling countries in the region to “get used to” Beijing’s nuclear program.

In an editorial the CCP-controlled tabloid wrote Beijing’s decision to give advanced notice to regional countries hours before the test were “goodwill measures taken by China”.

“China’s actions were reasonable and lawful, fully demonstrating its sense of responsibility as a major power,” the state-owned tabloid argued.

“Despite advanced notification, there remains some discordant voices internationally, primarily from nations such as Australia and New Zealand.”