Anushka Saxena
China’s decision to publicly test an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) on September 25 indicates that it may be bringing the nuclear option back to light, and has sparked many questions surrounding the potential reasons for such a manoeuvre. While the test has been referred to as “routine,” and a part of the PLA’s “annual training” module, this specific form of ICBM testing, with the warhead landing in the Pacific Ocean, has happened for the first time since 1980.
The missile, which deployed a dummy warhead and landed in the Pacific Ocean (somewhere near French Polynesia), is speculated to be the Dongfeng-41 (DF-41) type under command of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF), though no official confirmation of the model has come from the Chinese. Nonetheless, an understanding of Chinese missile systems, as well as the internal and geopolitical contexts in which this test was conducted, may give us some clues as to how to interpret the manoeuvre.
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