China tests nuclear-capable submarine-launched missile

China tested a long-range submarine-launched, nuclear-capable missile earlier in the week, drawing condemnation from countries in the region and concern from the United States over Beijing's nuclear buildup.

Details of the weapon remain limited. Taiwan identified it as a JL-2 submarine-launched ballistic missile with a range of about 7,000 kilometers and said it was fired from the sea's surface rather than underwater. Monitors said it was launched from a nuclear submarine and appeared to land near the Solomon Islands.

The US State Department said China's "rapid and opaque nuclear weapons buildup is of great concern" and urged Beijing to enter meaningful arms control talks.

Analysts said the test was less important for new technical evidence than for its political signal. Nathan Beauchamp-Mustafaga of RAND said it suggested Beijing wanted to show that its emerging nuclear triad was credible. Jacob Stokes of the Center for a New American Security said the launch showed China trying to consolidate the sea-based leg of that triad.

The test came two years after China fired an intercontinental ballistic missile into waters near French Polynesia and while US attention was focused on the Middle East and the Iran war.