By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-10-08 02:53:38 | Updated at 2024-10-08 05:28:49
3 hours ago
The Pacific island nation of Kiribati has issued rare criticism of China over last month’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, saying the Pacific is not “isolated pockets of ocean” and it “does not welcome” Beijing’s action.
Kiribati, a Pacific Ocean neighbour of Hawaii with a vast exclusive economic zone of 3.6 million square km (1.4 million square miles) has developed close ties to Beijing in recent years, including hosting Chinese police.
China conducted a rare launch of an ICBM with a dummy warhead on September 25 that landed in the Pacific Ocean, which Beijing said was for weapons testing and training, and nations including Fiji, Australia and New Zealand have said was concerning.
Kiribati did not receive notice from China about the missile launch, the Kiribati President’s Office said in a statement on social media.
It was told by the Chinese embassy there was no need to alert Kiribati because the test was not meant to target any country in the Pacific, the statement added.
“Kiribati does not welcome China’s recent ICBM test,” the statement said. It also criticised other unnamed countries for past weapons tests.
