US calls for ‘regular’ missile launch notification process after China’s ICBM test
Washington and France say Beijing gave advance notice of this week’s test, which Pentagon says was a ‘step in the right direction’
The US said the warning had helped to “avoid miscalculation” and was “step in the right direction”, but it wanted a more regular arrangement to give advance notice of future missile and space launches.
The People’s Liberation Army launch was China’s first known ICBM test in 44 years. On Thursday, China’s military released images of the missile but did not say what its trajectory had been or where it landed in the Pacific.
However, France has confirmed that it landed near French Polynesia’s exclusive economic zone.
French Polynesia President Moetai Brotherson told Agence France-Presse the missile “fell not far from … the Marquesas Islands” and that Beijing had notified the French authorities before the launch.
Pentagon deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told a press briefing: “We did receive some advance notification of this ICBM test. And we believe that was a good thing. That was a step in the right direction and it does lead to preventing any misperception or miscalculation.”
Singh added the US had also pressed China for “a more regular bilateral notification arrangement when it comes to ballistic missile and space launches”.
