China’s military test-launched a long-range ballistic missile on Monday (July 6, 2026) from one of its nuclear-powered submarines in the South Pacific.

The missile was launched at 12:01 p.m. and carried a dummy warhead, according to an announcement by the official Xinhua News Agency.

The New Zealand government said it was informed of the planned launch hours beforehand.

“It appears that despite our long-standing concerns about this type of activity, China carried out the test within hours of informing us,” Foreign Minister Winston Peters told The Associated Press in a statement.