China has launched a nuclear-capable long-range missile with a dummy warhead in the Pacific Ocean as part of a 'military training program'. Chinese state-owned media outlet Xinhua stated a 'strategic nuclear submarine of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy successfully launched a submarine-launched ballistic missile carrying a simulated training warhead into the high seas of the Pacific Ocean' at 12.01pm on Monday. Sources earlier claimed the launch was in retaliation to Fiji's new defence deal with Australia as Beijing seeks greater influence in the region. Xinhua reported the missile test was 'a routine part of China's annual military training program, and relevant countries had been notified in advance'. China gave briefings about the testing to governments on Monday. 'The missile accurately landed in the designated area,' Xinhua reported. 'It is in accordance with international law and practice and is not directed against any specific country or target.' Foreign Minister Penny Wong was one of several ministers given advance warning and took aim at the announcement. 'Australia has been clear with China that we regard this as destabilising to the region,' she said.

One source told The Australian the move is in response to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Fijian counterpart Sitiveni Rabuka signing the Ocean of Peace Alliance on Monday. The alliance includes mutual defence obligations, stating an armed attack on any of the parties within the Pacific 'would be dangerous to each other's peace and security as well as the security of the Pacific'. The document also opens up the alliance to other Pacific nations. 'The parties may, by unanimous consent, invite any other Pacific state in a position to further the purposes and principles of this treaty and to contribute to the security of the Pacific,' it reads.

Australia has mutual defence pacts with the US, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, called the PukPuk treaty, which comes into effect on Wednesday. Following his visit to Fiji, Albanese will head to the Solomon Islands to meet with his counterpart Matthew Wale after the two nations agreed to further discussions on a security deal. While visiting Honiara on Tuesday, Albanese will participate in the Solomon Islands' 48th Independence Day celebrations. The trip follows the sealing of a long-awaited $500 million deal with Vanuatu, called the Nakamal Agreement. Under the agreement, Port Vila agreed to close the door on foreign military bases in its territory.

In an attempt to bolster Australia's key relationships in the Pacific region, Albanese will host the leaders of PNG and Tonga at the State of Origin rugby league decider between NSW and Queensland in Brisbane on Wednesday night. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Beijing has grown frustrated by Australia's expanding network of Pacific security agreements, which are designed to curb China's influence in the region. In February last year, the Cook Islands, a self-governing nation in free association with New Zealand, signed a series of wide-ranging agreements with China.

The move alarmed both New Zealand and Australia and prompted Australasia to renew its focus on strengthening relationships across the Pacific region. Earlier in 2022, China signed a secret security agreement with the Solomon Islands, with the details kept secret from the public. CSIS inaugural Australia chair Charles Edel said China's expanding relationships in the Pacific are driven less by trade than by its need to secure natural resources. 'The Pacific presents several strategic opportunities for China, from access to much-needed resources such as fish stocks, timber, and critical minerals to geostrategic objectives such as displacing the United States in its near region and complicating US and allied contingency planning,' he said.

'While economic assistance from any development partner is welcome in a region facing so many significant challenges, China's use of economic promises to shape Pacific security architecture and erode democratic norms poses a direct threat to the national security of all Pacific nations. 'When Kiribati and Solomon Islands switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in the fall of 2019, it demonstrated China's shift from economic partner to major strategic player in the Pacific. 'These diplomatic coups came as China's development assistance across the region - some via grants, others, more controversially, by loans - and diplomatic presence expanded.'