China 'Tests Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile'

China this month test-launched a new submarine-launched ballistic missile, a news report says. The report comes hard on the heels of claims republished without comment in the Chinese state media that Beijing tested a new intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach targets all over the U.S.

Quoting U.S. State Department officials on Thursday, the website Freebeacon.com reported the flight test of the new JL-2 missile took place on Aug. 16 "from a new Jin-class ballistic missile submarine on patrol in the Bohai Sea, near the coast of northeastern China west of the Korean Peninsula."

Earlier on Aug. 8, China's Shenzhen Satellite TV reported that a Jin-class missile submarine left Dalian to go on patrol in Bohai Bay.

The JL-2, with a range of 10,000-14,000 km, is described as a "multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle" with a collection of 10 nuclear warheads. Each Jin-class missile submarine can carry 12 JL-2s. 

Experts regard the series of Chinese missile tests as a show of force against Japan triggered by their territorial dispute over the Senkaku or Diaoyutai Islands.