What does China’s submarine missile test mean for its nuclear triad expansion?

Monday’s test is also likely to reinforce calls in Washington and among US allies for greater defence investment and closer security coordination as regional tensions continue to rise, according to analysts.

It was China’s first known submarine-launched ballistic missile test since 1982 and came nearly two years after Beijing publicly announced the launch of a land-based intercontinental ballistic missile

into the Pacific – a move that also drew concern from countries across the region.

“This missile test appears to have been intended more for strategic signalling than for technical experimentation or operational development,” said Zhao Tong, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“Although China has long been understood to possess this capability, this marks its first public demonstration.”

Despite Beijing’s confirmation of the launch and its advance notification to countries including Australia, Japan and New Zealand, questions remain over which missile was tested, where it was launched from and which flight path it followed.