In a rare move, China on Thursday published a photograph showing the previous day's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach most of the continental United States.
China Junhao, the Chinese military's media wing, posted the photo online but did not reveal the missile type or the test's precise location. The picture showed the missile was fired from a transporter erector launcher, or TEL, vehicle. The launch tested "weaponry performance" and military training effectiveness and achieved desired goals, according to the official account.
The missile was a DF-31AG, said Ankit Panda, a nuclear policy analyst with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. It has a reported range of 6,959 miles, capable of reaching the U.S. mainland from most its deployment areas in China, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said in a January report.
The U.S. Defense Department confirmed that it had received "some advanced notification" from China of the test. Sabrina Singh, the Pentagon's deputy press secretary, praised this as a good thing as it prevented misperception or miscalculation.
She called the notification a common sense, confidence-building measure, and Washington has pressed Beijing for more regular notifications of ballistic missile and space launches. The Chinese military said "relevant countries" had been notified of the test in advance.
China has a bilateral agreement with Russia on mutual notification for ballistic missile launches, but no agreement exists with the U.S.. China did not join the Hague Code of Conduct against ballistic missile proliferation, which requires members to provide pre-launch notifications.
"This is China's sovereign right. China is taking care of its military posture," said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. Necessary information was exchanged between the two sides within the existing framework of contacts, he added.
In October 2023, the Pentagon said China possessed 500 launchers for 350 ICBMs, a class of ballistic missile with a range of more than 3,400 miles. The country's Rocket Force operates DF-5, DF-31 and DF-41 ICBMs.
The DF-31 was China's first solid-fuel, road-mobile ICBM with a range of 4,470 miles, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said. The missile's base model, which was revealed in 2006, could not reach the continental U.S. from China.
At least three DF-31 variants—the DF-31A, the DF-31AG, and a silo-based variant—were produced with extended ranges and improved maneuverability. The nuclear-capable DF-31AG was upgraded with a new missile vehicle that has improved off-road capabilities.
Civil aviation notifications issued prior to the launch suggested the missile was fired from Hainan, a southern Chinese island province facing the South China Sea. Its dummy warhead splashed down 7,400 miles away, north of Tahiti in French Polynesia.
That a strategic ballistic missile launcher had crossed the sea and arrived on Hainan for a launch test was a major breakthrough, a Chinese military observer said on social media.
The ICBM test came as the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning was underway in the Philippine Sea, a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, with five other warships, including four destroyers and a fast combat support ship.
The Liaoning's formation split into two groups as they transited southward between two Japanese islands on September 18. Speculation on Chinese social media suggested that the carrier strike group would be heading to the warhead's splash zone in the South Pacific.
The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt called at U.S.'s westernmost territory of Guam on Wednesday for a scheduled visit to bring on stores and equipment. The warship is en route to the U.S. following a surge deployment to the Middle East this summer.
Update 9/26/24, 4:45 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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