China said it notified “relevant countries” in advance, according to a separate report by the official Xinhua news agency. Japanese government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi, however, said at a regular briefing in Tokyo that his nation received no notice in advance of the launch, calling China’s military activity a “serious concern”.

While China frequently tests missiles most of those launches are conducted inland, according to James Char, assistant professor at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, who added the last reported ICBM test of this sort was in the 1980s. 

“Shooting out to the ocean requires prior communication with countries in the region, so it’s not very common,” Char added. In May 1980, China said it had successfully launched two ICBMs into the South Pacific.

The US routinely test launches ICBMs and other missiles, including into the Pacific Ocean. In June, the US fired a Minuteman III ICBM from California into a test site that is part of the territory of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific.

This week’s rare public announcement comes as China and the US ramp up efforts to stabilise ties with renewed military talks, despite lingering tensions. Those issues include Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing wants to control and President Joe Biden has pledged to defend from a Chinese invasion. 

“This is a pretty bold and provocative statement, and I think the timing is significant,” said Drew Thompson, a senior fellow at S Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, adding this showed the world that Beijing could dispatch its strategic weapons on any country.

“It’s taking place during the United Nations General Assembly,” he said. “It’s putting the world at risk.” 

China’s Rocket Force has come under scrutiny over the past year, with top officials from the unit that manages the nation’s nuclear arsenal being investigated for corruption. US intelligence agencies believe the purge came after it emerged widespread graft undermined President Xi Jinping’s efforts to modernise the armed forces and raised questions about China’s ability to fight a war.

“My sense is China’s nuclear modernisation has caused a rethink of testing requirements,” said Ankit Panda, Stanton senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “This missile may be part of a newer generation of ICBMs that have previously never been tested into the Pacific. It’s yet another symptom of the new nuclear age dawning in Asia.” 

China’s nuclear threat has been a pressing concern of the US. The Pentagon said last year China had about 500 operational warheads and was looking to have more than 1,000 by 2030 as part of Xi’s push to achieve a “world class” military by 2049.

The world’s second-largest economy has the third most warheads behind the US at 5,748 and Russia at 5,580, according to estimates for 2024 by the Arms Control Association.

US adversaries Russia and North Korea have also stepped up their programmes to deploy ICBMs that can strike the American mainland.

North Korea last year tested its solid-fuel Hwasong-18 ICBM with leader Kim Jong Un on hand. That ICBM flew longer than any of his nation’s other long-range missiles and appeared designed to carry a multiple nuclear-weapon payload, which increases the chances at least one bomb could slip past interceptors and reach a target.

This month, Russia appeared to suffer a setback in its longstanding ICBM programme when its Sarmat ICBM — known in the West as Satan II — experienced a “catastrophic failure” during a test launch, the Guardian newspaper reported. It said satellite imagery showed a crater at a launch site, indicating that it blew up in a silo.

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