'Deception’: what China's missile test really tested

Questions continue to swirl over China’s latest nuclear-capable missile test, after conflicting navigation warnings appeared to point to two different flight paths — one over Japan and another across the Philippines towards the South Pacific. While Beijing insists the launch was a routine exercise conducted with advance notice, the confusion itself has fueled concern across the region. Critics argue the issue is not that China tested a missile, but whether it provided enough transparency to reduce the risk of miscalculation during a nuclear-capable launch. At the same time, the episode highlighted growing intelligence cooperation among the United States, Taiwan, Japan, Australia and the Philippines as they tracked the missile’s trajectory. Why did China appear to prepare two possible launch routes — and what message was Beijing trying to send? In this episode, we examine what happened, why the launch sparked such a strong reaction and what it reveals about deterrence and security in the Indo-Pacific.