By Pacific Island Times News Staff
The People's Liberation Army Rocket Force launched an intercontinental ballistic missile earlier today, carrying a dummy warhead to the high seas in the Pacific Ocean, China's defense ministry said.
The missile launched at 08:44 a.m. Beijing time "fell into expected sea areas," the ministry said in a single-line statement.
The PLA Rocket Force is a strategic and tactical missile force that controls China's arsenal of land-based ballistic, hypersonic, cruise missiles—both nuclear and conventional.
On Guam, officials said the Offices of Guam Homeland Security and Civil Defense in conjunction with the Mariana Regional Fusion Center, federal and military partners, are monitoring the regional situation.
“No immediate threat was assessed for Guam or the Marianas from the reported launch,” said Esther Aguigui, homeland security advisor. “Events such as these will continue to be monitored by our office, while working with local, military, and federal partners.”
The Chinese military, which is considered a growing threat in the region, has been increasing its presence in the Pacific.
Last week, the Chinese navy's Liaoning aircraft carrier conducted a formation in the Western Pacific Ocean, which according to a government spokesperson was "a routine training exercise as part of the annual plan, aiming to enhance the navy's combat capabilities."
The formation complied "with relevant international law and common practice, and there is no need to overinterpret this exercise," Zhang Xiaogang, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, said in a statement on the ministry's website.
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