SYDNEY: Pacific Islands denounced China’s ballistic missile test because they say it landed in the heart of their shared “blue continent,” politicians and analysts told AFP. Even Pacific nations indebted to Beijing joined criticism of Monday’s submarine-launched ballistic missile test, which reached far into the Pacific Ocean. The term “Blue continent” is used by Pacific Islands to describe a joint home and shared stewardship of the ocean.

Despite Beijing’s insistence that the launch was a “routine” test, it is widely perceived in the region as a provocative and unsettling act.

Beijing should be well aware that firing a weapon into the open ocean, thousands of kilometres from its mainland, is deeply provocative.

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