Palau, Marshall Islands join global call for 24-hour notice for missile tests

Most island nations mum on China's missile tests

By Mar-Vic Cagurangan

Palau and the Marshall Islands have joined dozens of nations in seeking to regulate missile tests by demanding a 24-hour notice before the launch.

"Conducting nuclear-capable ballistic missile tests without sufficient advance notice and detail is dangerous and disrupts the peace and security of relevant nations in proximity to these tests," reads a U.S.-led joint statement issued by 39 countries.

The statement came on the heels of China's test-launch into the South Pacific last month.

The testing activity in the Pacific area did not follow the standard practices adopted by most states to "notify and deconflict ICBM, SLBM and SLV launches," according to the 39 countries that signed on to the statement.

China test-launched its missile at the height of the Rim of the Pacific exercise in Hawaii, drawing a combination of roaring protests from some island nations and deliberate silence from others.

The Marshall Islands government called on China “to explain its intentions in language as clear as the harm such tests can cause and to recognize that a region asking for peace is not a region inviting a demonstration of force.” Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. denounced China’s “very opaque or secretive launches.”

Such a display of aggression “raises anxiety, fear and causes great concern for all of us that live on these islands that want to live in peace and harmony,” Whipps said in an interview with RNZ Pacific.

Feleti Penitala Teo, Tuvalu’s prime minister, said China’s missile launch ran counter to the Pacific island countries’ bid for a nuclear-free Blue Pacific Continent, in line with the South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone Treaty.  

While individual leaders have criticized China’s missile test, the Pacific island region has not yet formed a collective position. As it prepares for the leadership meeting in Palau from Aug. 30 to Sept. 4, the Pacific Islands Forum is confronted by peace advocates' call to keep the superpowers at bay.

The Pacific island region is characterized by a diplomatic patchwork, ambiguous political statuses and complex foreign relations.

Tuvalu, Palau and the Marshall Islands are among Taiwan’s 12 remaining allies in the world. Palau and the Marshall Islands are freely associated with the United States, along with the Federated States of Micronesia, under separate Compacts of Free Association. While affiliated with Washington, the FSM is diplomatically allied with China.

Most island nations are dependent on foreign aid, making their common friends-to-all-enemies-to-none foreign policy a pragmatic strategy.

Regional treaties have repeatedly declared the region a peace zone, but island nations are compelled to navigate their unwitting role in the geopolitical rivalry between the U.S. and China.

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The U.S.-led call for a 24-hour notice before a test launch was endorsed by Western and Asian countries.

They demand that notifications include information such as the generic class of the ballistic missile or SLV, the planned launch notification window, the launch area and the planned direction.

 They clarified that the call for "regularized, transparent" notification is not intended to "constrain any nation’s military development or operational needs."

The text of the statement was released by the governments of the United States, Albania, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Marshall Islands, Montenegro, the  Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Palau, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Korea,  Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, Ukraine, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

"Instead, they reduce the risk of miscalculation, build confidence and reflect a shared commitment to security," reads the statement.

The statement warns that an unannounced missile test "increases the risk of miscalculation, undermines global stability and security and is incompatible with the responsibilities that come with possessing long-range missile capabilities."

"Countries should also provide clear notices for airmen and mariners consistent with international standards to reduce risk, including in expected impact or landing areas," the statement says.

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