China’s recent ballistic missile test has been likened to a home invasion, leaving people living in Tuvalu, the low-lying Pacific Island closest to where it landed, fearing it would trigger a tsunami, according to a senior official from the nation.
China gave no warning on the early July missile test and didn’t say it would land so close to Tuvalu, Pasuna Tuaga, a senior Tuvalu foreign affairs official, said Friday on the sidelines of a Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Fiji, adding that it is important for the various countries in the region to make clear to Beijing that this was unacceptable.
“Just imagine it yourself, it was like someone invaded your home,” he said.
“Just imagine if it was a real one? That’s the same question that we have put to the forum during the official meeting: Do we have to wait until we are hit by a real one and then issue a statement?”
Tuaga said that testing dummy warheads was not how China should be treating the Pacific, and he called on the 18 members of the forum to collectively condemn the launch a month ago.
“It is important for us to make a statement because we don’t want to be intimidated by any powers,” he said, while emphasising that his comments were in a personal capacity and not as a senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Labor and Trade.
According to Tuaga, his nation tried to discuss the issue with Beijing but got nowhere. Tuvalu has asked Australia, France and the U.S to search for the dummy warhead in the nearby waters, he said.
The comments come after New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters criticised the region’s countries, saying Pacific Island nations missed an opportunity to call out China for the missile test over the region.
There has been no official statement from the Pacific Islands Forum following the 06 July test of a submarine-fired nuclear-capable missile, but individual countries such as Australia and New Zealand have criticised the move.
Peters wouldn’t be drawn over which countries were the roadblock to a joint statement, although a number of the nations have close economic or security alignment with China. They include Kiribati, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on radio Friday, repeating her previous statements that the test had been “destabilising.”
“The majority of the Pacific Islands Forum did express concerns over China’s ballistic missile test. I hope China does take note of the very clear response from leaders and ministers in the Pacific about that test, said Wong.
