China tried to mislead foreign governments in 2024 by playing down the importance of a nuclear-capable missile test over the Pacific Ocean, New Zealand diplomats privately warned in documents obtained by AFP.

Beijing sent shivers through the South Pacific in September 2024, when its elite Rocket Force fired a dummy warhead into the high seas near French Polynesia.

A tranche of classified government briefing notes obtained by AFP shows deep concern within the New Zealand government in the wake of the surprise launch, which China shrugged off as "routine".

It was China's first long-range missile launch over international waters in more than 40 years, the papers confirmed, serving as a blunt reminder of Beijing's potent nuclear-strike capabilities.

"We are concerned that China is characterising this as a 'routine test'," senior diplomats wrote in a memo to New Zealand's foreign affairs minister.

"It is not routine: China has not conducted this type of long-range missile test in over 40 years.

"We do not want to see this test repeated."

China's military played down the test as a "legitimate and routine arrangement for military training".

Behind the scenes, New Zealand diplomats privately decried China's "mischaracterisation".

"As this is the first time that China has undertaken such an action in the........

© International Business Times