(Bloomberg) -- The Pentagon praised China for its transparency before the test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean, in a sign that military communication between the superpowers is improving.
“We did receive some advanced notification of this ICBM test and we believe that that was a good thing,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said on Wednesday. “It’s a step in the right direction and it does lead to preventing any misperception or miscalculation.”
She added that the US has pressed China for more regular notifications of ballistic missile and space launches.
China’s move “represents a common sense, confidence-building measure,” Singh said. “So we want to see these types of notifications continue.”
The communication between the militaries marks a turnaround from recent years, when China all but shut off such links after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022. The People’s Liberation Army responded to that trip with large-scale military drills around the democratic nation of 22 million people, which Beijing has pledged to bring under its control eventually.
The US and China have been restoring communication links between their armed forces. Earlier this month, Chinese and American military commanders overseeing operations in the South China Sea had their first talks since Pelosi’s visit. That came shortly after National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan visited Beijing and held rare talks with General Zhang Youxia of China’s Central Military Commission.
Military ties between the two nations were enjoying “stabler momentum” now, Defense Ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang said Thursday at a regular press briefing in Beijing.
He listed several types of communication links that “help enhance mutual understanding, avoid miscalculation, and manage and control risks.”
The militaries of China and those of the US and its allies come into close contact in the body of water over which Beijing makes vast claims.
While China notified the US of the rare ICBM test into the Pacific on Wednesday, Japan has said it received no prior notice, calling the military activity a “serious concern.” The Japanese Coast Guard did say that it received a warning from China before the launch about potential space debris.
Taiwan said it wasn’t notified, with the government department in Taipei that handles matters related to China saying that the behavior “seriously endangers regional security.”
China’s nuclear threat has been a pressing worry of the US. The Pentagon said last year that Beijing had about 500 operational warheads and was looking to increase that to more than 1,000 by 2030 as part of Xi’s push to achieve a “world class” military by 2049.
The Asian nation’s Rocket Force has some 350 ICBMs, which are weapons with a range of more than 5,500 kilometers (3,420 miles), it added.
--With assistance from Cindy Wang, Yoshiaki Nohara and Qianwei Zhang.
(Updates with comments from China’s Defense Ministry and Taiwan.)
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