China missile test deepens Pacific divide over growing militarisation: SUVA, Fiji — China’s test of a nuclear-capable missile last month has exposed the limits of Pacific leaders’ ambition to make the region an Ocean of Peace, free from the crossfire of major-power rivalry.The July launch, China’s first known ballistic-missile test into the Pacific since September 2024, was fired into the Pacific just hours after Fiji and Australia signed a major defence treaty, marking Fiji’s first ever alliance.More than a month after the test, Pacific Islands foreign ministers were unable to agree on a collective statement condemning Beijing’s missile test, despite individual leaders expressing alarm, publicly and privately, about militarisation of the region.The test was “totally inappropriate”, Papua New Guinea Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko told Reuters on the sidelines of the foreign ministers’ meeting in Suva last week.”China is a very close friend and ally to Papua New Guinea, but we feel this doesn’t help at all,” he said, adding that Beijing had given PNG advance notice of the launch but no details on where the missile would land. #China #MissileTest #PacificIslands #Military #Geopolitics