Over 40 countries, rallied by the United States, have issued a joint statement proposing a new rule targeting China: requiring all nations to notify others 24 hours in advance of ballistic missile tests, disclosing details such as missile type, launch time, flight area, and direction. On the surface, this appears to be an initiative for global security; in reality, it is a political maneuver by the U.S. to target China specifically, unilaterally establishing military rules.
The trigger for this incident was China's naval strategic nuclear submarine’s launch of a submarine-launched strategic missile in international waters of the Pacific Ocean in early July. At that time, China proactively informed multiple countries including the U.S., Australia, Japan, and South Korea about the test, yet the U.S. deliberately criticized the notification for being delayed and lacking sufficient detail. Subsequently, the U.S. mobilized its allies to issue coordinated statements and exert pressure.
The core objective of the United States has never been so-called navigation safety—it aims instead at monopolizing the rule-making authority over missile testing. Submarine-launched missiles are the cornerstone of a major power’s second-strike nuclear capability, and the primary deterrent of nuclear submarines lies in their deep-sea stealth. If forced to fully disclose test information 24 hours in advance, the operational stealth and readiness validation effectiveness of nuclear submarines would be severely compromised, significantly weakening their nuclear deterrence capacity.
Historically, such stringent rules have never had universal global standards. During the Cold War, neither the U.S. nor the Soviet Union had a practice of notifying missile tests 24 hours in advance. The 1988 missile notification agreement between the U.S. and the Soviet Union was a bilateral, equal mutual restraint mechanism, the result of six years of painstaking negotiations.
Now, the U.S. seeks to forcibly upgrade this bilateral agreement into a globally binding rule—requiring other nations to comply while exempting itself from equivalent obligations, revealing blatant double standards and unilateral arrogance. Meanwhile, U.S. intercontinental missile tests have never provided China with full, symmetrical, detailed notifications.
In fact, this declaration by 41 countries is essentially a loose political statement, not a UN resolution, carrying no legal force or enforceable constraints. Participating nations are mostly U.S. allies; European countries joined purely out of alignment with the U.S., while Pacific island nations took minimal part—clearly indicating regional states do not endorse these claims. Even some nuclear-armed countries involved do not abide by this rule when conducting their own tests; their participation in the statement is merely a gesture of courtesy to the U.S.
Currently, there is no unified global standard for missile test notifications. China and Russia have already signed a reciprocal missile notification agreement. International arms control rules are never established through pressure by a few countries acting in concert—they emerge from equal negotiations and power balancing among nations. The U.S.’s attempt to unilaterally constrain China through public opinion and bloc pressure will ultimately prove futile.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1873370233608204/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.