China just test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile into the South Pacific, and the list of countries that are unhappy about it reads like a UN roll call. Australia, New Zealand, the US, Japan, and Taiwan all issued condemnations, calling the launch destabilizing. For crypto markets, which have increasingly traded like a barometer for global risk appetite, this is exactly the kind of event that tends to move the needle.
The test took place on July 6, with the People’s Liberation Army Navy launching what analysts believe was a JL-3 missile from a nuclear-powered submarine at 12:01 p.m. local time. The missile carried a dummy warhead and landed in designated high-seas waters.
What happened and why it matters
This was China’s first submarine-launched ballistic missile test in the Pacific region in roughly two years. The previous test occurred in late 2024.
Regional powers reportedly received as little as 90 minutes of advance notice.
