Taiwan intelligence: Chinese sub fired missile from surface
by Bill Gertz · The Washington TimesNEWS AND ANALYSIS:
China’s recent test of a long-range ballistic missile did not launch from a submerged submarine but was fired from the ocean’s surface near the coast, according to a senior Taiwanese defense intelligence official.
Details of the provocative July 6 missile launch remain shrouded in secrecy, despite condemnation by the United States and several regional states.
New details obtained by Inside the Ring from testimony before a committee of the Taiwanese Legislature reveal the missile launch took place from a surfaced submarine, raising questions among defense analysts about the People’s Liberation Army Navy submarine capability, specifically its underwater missile launch expertise.
According to testimony from Hsieh Jih-sheng, deputy director of the Taiwan Defense Ministry’s intelligence office, the missile was identified as a JL-2 that was launched from coastal waters “south of Guangdong,” a southern province.
“It was a surface launch: Although the missile was a submarine-launched type, it was fired while the launch platform was on the surface of the sea, rather than from a submerged position,” Mr. Hsieh told the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee two days after the missile test.
Underwater missile firings utilize a canister that is flooded with seawater shortly before launch and then compressed air ejects the missile to a position above the water when the motor ignites.
Launching from a surfaced submarine could indicate China’s military has not perfected the underwater launch process, or that it lacks confidence in the launch technology.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning was asked about the surfaced submarine missile launch and said: “We have stated our position on the test launch on multiple occasions. I don’t have anything further to add.”
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The launch was a “routine military training activity” not directed at a specific nation, she said.
The official Xinhua news agency said the missile was launched from an unspecified “strategic nuclear submarine.”
Spokesmen for the Pentagon, the State Department and U.S. Pacific Command had no comment on the surface launch.
Mr. Hsieh said the surface launch was confirmed by Taiwan after an allied nation provided intelligence about the test. He declined to identify the intelligence service.
“We have multiple sources for intelligence sharing,” he said when asked for details.
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The intelligence official made the comments in response to questions posed by committee member Wang Ting-Yu, a China affairs expert.
During testimony from Mr. Hsieh and Defense Minister Wellington Koo, Mr. Wang asked if the missile traveled 6,000 kilometers, or 3728 miles, into the South Pacific.
“It’s around 7,000,” or 4,339 miles, Mr. Hsieh said, adding “as for the flight path, we can’t say exactly.”
Earlier, Joseph Wu, a senior Taiwanese national security official, disclosed on social media that the missile traveled south from the Guangdong coast, past Guam and near several Pacific island states.
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Asked about the type of submarine that launched the missile, Mr. Hsieh said Australia’s government announced the submarine type, although there is no record of any Australian officials specifying the submarine type, other than statements saying it was a nuclear missile submarine.
Defense analysts at the Jamestown Foundation said the likely platform for the launch was one of six Chinese Type-094 or Jin-class ballistic missile subs.
Mr. Hsieh sidestepped the legislator’s question about what China hoped to achieve in conducting its first submarine-launched ballistic missile test in several decades.
“I think every country has already condemned this kind of missile, I don’t think we need to comment, necessarily, on China’s purpose,” he said. “But what we want to explain is that this has already threatened regional peace and stability.”
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Mr. Wang said he views the missile test as advancing China’s nuclear strike capabilities from attacks against land targets to those at sea.
“To me, it could be said that this launch is a clear effort to decry and threaten Taiwan-U.S. military cooperation, especially after recent arms sales agreements,” he said.
Defense bill to bolster Israeli defense cooperation
A section of the House version of the fiscal 2027 defense policy bill would create a closer defense relationship between the United States and Israel.
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Section 219 of the draft legislation calls for creating a U.S.-Israel defense technology initiative to better codify already close defense ties.
The initiative is designed to expand defense technology cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence uses for the military.
The advanced technology sharing would include working together on AI-powered defense systems, autonomous weapons, quantum computing and cutting-edge drones that are emerging as revolutionary new weapons.
Recent U.S. Central Command attacks on Iranian ports for the first time employed drone surface vessels armed with bombs in one-way missions.
The initiative also seeks better military operational coordination through improved data sharing and joint research and production programs.
U.S. and Israeli military forces, which joined forces in conducting attacks on Iran earlier this year, will not set up integrated military command structures under the new initiative, which is limited to joint defense industrial and technology efforts.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News that the new initiative highlights the need to upgrade the partnership between Washington and Tel Aviv.
“I’m calling it from aid to partnership,” he said. “We co-invest in equal measures in the new technologies that are needed to give our military and your military the advantage. There are some unbelievable projects.”
Mr. Netanyahu also said Israel supplies valuable intelligence to the U.S. that has been described as “worth five CIAs.”
“I’m not trying to be mathematically exact, but Israel’s contributions to America’s defense are important. Our technology is incredible,” he said.
The proposed initiative is expected to be opposed by congressional Democrats, many of whom have turned sharply against Israel over the war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.
Some right-wing political activists also likely will oppose the new initiative, claiming the United States’ longtime Middle East ally forced President Trump into another Middle East war in Iran. Mr. Trump has said that Israel did not goad him into action.
The House and the Senate are continuing work on draft versions of their defense authorization bills that are based on an unprecedented Trump administration request for $1.1 trillion in spending for the coming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
Documents reveal Chinese plan to destroy Starlink satellites
Chinese and Russian officials held secret meetings in China on military cooperation that included plans to shoot down Starlink satellites now providing key communications for Ukraine’s army, according to documents obtained by investigators at three news outlets.
The classified documents outline a series of clandestine military forums between Chinese and Russian military personnel. One document revealed a joint plan to attack one of SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s most important projects – Starlink satellites.
The documents were obtained jointly by The Insider, Der Spiegel and Le Monde. They include four slide presentations from a November 2023 meeting called the Third China-Russia Military-Technical Cooperation Forum in Guangzhou, China.
During the sessions, the two militaries discussed five weapons areas — space weapons and attacks on satellites, integrated air and missile defense, autonomous swarm and loitering munitions, next-generation armored vehicles and military aviation, the news outlets reported July 9.
“Taken together, the documents expose China’s professed neutrality in Russia’s ongoing war of conquest in Ukraine as a fiction,” The Insider reported. “Instead, they show a partnership that has moved well beyond shared rhetoric into a structured, multi-disciplinary program to build weapons neither country could develop alone — reaching into the most sensitive strategic systems.”
The reports contradict official Chinese government claims of neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
China has been accused by U.S. military officials of providing significant indirect military support to Moscow, mainly in the form of electronic components, machine tools, and drones that have boosted Russia’s war effort.
European intelligence services concluded recently that the Chinese military secretly trained about 200 Russian personnel in China in late 2025, Reuters reported in May.
One slideshow marked “internal” on countering Starlink was delivered by two researchers from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), a major defense and space contractor.
The researchers described the hundreds of Starlink satellites as a threat that imposed a “space blockade” by packing low-Earth orbit and using up key bands of the electromagnetic spectrum.
The Chinese plan calls first for using legal and diplomatic pressure to limit Starlink from expanding the number of satellites, blocking Starlink’s access to physical space with limits on communications bands and orbits, and joint jamming operations in key locations.
Another level of activity calls for destroying the satellite network through cyber warfare — “access spoofing, virus infection, and the exploitation of vulnerabilities,” the document stated.
The action would seek to place malware in terminals and networks to paralyze the control system.
“The slide doesn’t specify what type of weapon this might be, although it could theoretically consist of a single rocket munition that disburses clouds of high-density projectiles such as ball bearings, if not a single launch vehicle that releases hundreds of low-cost, shoebox-sized CubeSats, which could ram into Starlink satellites,” the report said.
China appears to have advanced its plans since the 2023 conference. Military writings in China have discussed using laser and microwave weapons and anti-satellite missiles against satellites.
“The findings about the considerable extent of Chinese support for the Russian military are extremely worrying,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told Der Spiegel. “China must know that this violates the absolute core of European security interests.”
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