China Conducts Routine Submarine Missile Test Same Day Australia and Fiji Sign Defense Pact

China launched a submarine-based ballistic missile with a dummy warhead into the Pacific Ocean on July 6, Washington Examiner reported. The launch occurred on the same day Australia and Fiji signed the Ocean of Peace Alliance mutual defense pact. China described the July 6 launch as a routine military training exercise.

She asked relevant countries not to over-interpret the event. New Zealand’s foreign minister Winston Peters noted the missile landed inside the South Pacific’s nuclear-free zone. The U.S. State Department responded by calling on China to engage in meaningful arms control discussions.

China’s previous submarine-based ballistic missile launch into the Pacific took place in 2024, following a 44-year gap after its first such test in 1980. The number of distinct China Coast Guard vessels operating near Taiwan rose by roughly 500 percent between January 2020 and December 2025.

China’s consumer prices grew 1 percent year-over-year in June while factory-gate prices rose 4.1 percent, the fastest pace in nearly four years.

Australia spends around 2.8 percent of GDP on defense.