Marshall Islands Calls on China to Adhere to Treaty of Rarotonga

Photo Sources: Office of the President, Republic of Marshall Islands

By Christopher Cottrell

July 8, 2026, Marshall Islands__Joining a chorus of Pacific nations against China’s ballistic missile launch Monday, the Marshall Islands released an official statement today decrying the test.

The  Office of the President of the Republic of Marshall Islands reads below in full:

“The Republic of the Marshall Islands wishes to register our concern over the submarine-launched ballistic missile test conducted by the People’s Republic of China on 6 July targeting the South Pacific.

“Although reportedly carrying a dummy warhead, no nation understands the weight of nuclear testing in Pacific waters better than ours. For twelve years, our atolls bore the cost of 67 nuclear detonations whose consequences our people live with still. We do not raise this history lightly, nor do we invoke it for rhetorical effect.

“We note the People’s Republic of China’s characterization of the test as ‘routine’, and its ‘request’ not to ‘over interpret’. We respectfully ask that China give due significant consideration that members of the Pacific Islands Forum placed on regional stability reflected in the Pacific Islands Forum’s Blue Pacific Ocean of Peace Declaration, endorsed in September 2025, affirming the Blue Pacific Continent’s commitment to remain a zone of peace, free from conflict and rivalry.

“China is a State Party to the Protocols II and III of the Treaty of Rarotonga, which established the South Pacific as a Nuclear-Free Zone. By ratifying these protocols in 1988, China committed not to test or threaten the use of nuclear weapons within this region. This was a clear deliberate pledge; one that carries enduring significance for Pacific nations.

Upholding the Treaty’s intent requires not only adherence to its letter, but also, good faith in preserving the Pacific as an Ocean of Peace.

“We are a small nation. In compliance with the Treaty of Rarotonga, we call on China — as we have called on every nuclear power before it — 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.”