Pacific Islands Forum silent on China's ballistic missile, for now
Thursday, 16 July 2026
More than a week after China's surprise launch of a nuclear-capable missile into the South Pacific, the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) remains silent.
Some of its 14 member states (New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Palau, Vanuatu and the Marshall Islands) have issued individual statements condemning the test - China’s second in two years.
While the PIF did not issue a joint statement after the 2024 test - the comments being made by some members this time around are unusually strong - “this is a threat to regional peace', ”don’t threaten us“ and “this is not something a friend does”.
China has described the launch as routine and argued it gave advance notice, though many Pacific states have made it clear they strongly disagree and consider it a violation of the Treaty of Rarotonga that established the “nuclear-free South Pacific” in 1985.
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The Post approached the PIF’s secretariat on Wednesday to ask if the group was going to issue a joint statement about the submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) - and received no response.
It’s understood that while forum members have been discussing a joint statement behind closed doors, they have not reached agreement on what it should say.
The Foreign Affairs Ministers of the PIF member states - who often double as the Prime Minster - are due to meet in Suva, Fiji, next month for their annual get together, ahead of the leaders meeting in Palau.
It will be a chance for them to discuss the ballistic missile test face-to-face - and how to respond to it as a group, if at all.
Tensions between China and the South Pacific are high: last week’s missile test came just a few hours after Australia and Fiji signed the Ocean of Peace Alliance.
The defence pact is a significant uplift in the bilateral relationship - committing each country to come to one another’s aid if the other is attacked.
New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has questioned the timing of China’s missile test, saying it would be “extraordinary” if it was down to pure coincidence.
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour said on Monday it was “highly likely” New Zealand would soon join the alliance: it’s open to other PIF members by unanimous agreement of the existing signatories.
That same day China issued an unusually strong rebuke of New Zealand in relation to its highly contested claims to the South China Sea.
New Zealand signed up to a statement commemorating 10 years since an United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) ruling that found China did not have exclusive control over the area.
Ambassador Wang Xiaolong said in the statement that China had “no interest” in damaging New Zealand but it took “two to tango”.
“We are deeply disappointed at and firmly oppose New Zealand having joined in the statement, which clearly deviates from the understanding reached by our leaders and seriously undermines the foundation of healthy and stable relationship,“ he said.