Foreign Minister Winston Peters says Pacific nations missed an opportunity to put out a joint statement after China test-launched a nuclear-capable ballistic missile into waters near Tuvalu, calling it a "delicate issue" and saying it was unclear whether Pacific countries would agree on a common position.

Peters made the comments at the Pacific Islands Forum Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Fiji on 7 August 2026, where he joined counterparts from 17 other Pacific countries. The meeting is a lead-up to the Pacific Islands Forum leaders' meeting in Palau in early September (RNZ).

About a month before the meeting, China test-launched a ballistic missile carrying a dummy warhead into the Pacific Ocean. The test landed inside a nuclear-free zone — an area where Pacific nations have agreed nuclear weapons should not be present — and drew condemnation from some Pacific leaders. Peters at the time called it "an unwelcome and concerning development" shared with neighbouring Pacific countries (Reuters).

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the New Zealand government told China directly that the missile test was unacceptable (RNZ).

Pacific nations had not reached a unanimous statement on the test. Peters said New Zealand had been pushing for a joint Pacific response. He suggested some countries would arrive at the Fiji meeting with their minds already made up, but declined to name the countries he believed were holding things back.

Peters said it was not too late to take a joint position on the missile test, but that it should have been done sooner. He had a brief discussion with Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong on the Friday morning ahead of the meeting (RNZ).

The meeting agenda also covered how outside partner countries work with the Pacific Islands Forum, following a decision to bar partners including China and the United States from last year's meeting in the Solomon Islands. Peters has spoken out repeatedly about "outsiders" influencing Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele to implement the partner ban, a claim Manele denied (RNZ).

The broader context here is a regional security environment shaped by intensifying geopolitical competition — essentially, the major powers jostling for influence in the Pacific. The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat's 2026 Pacific Security Outlook Report states that throughout 2026 the Pacific regional security outlook will continue to be shaped by this competition, drawing attention away from Pacific Island Countries' own priorities (Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat). The Secretariat's 2025 Pacific Security Outlook Report noted that China's ICBM test raised alarms in the Pacific (Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat).

New Zealand's positioning fits with its long-standing framing of itself as a Pacific country and a founding Pacific Islands Forum member committed to advancing the Pacific's priorities, as set out in a government speech titled "Pacific Futures" (Beehive). An Australia–New Zealand joint statement from March 2026 described the Pacific Islands Forum as being "at the heart of Pacific regionalism" and noted a Pacific Islands Forum Special Leaders' event was to be held in Fiji and Tuvalu in October 2026 (Beehive).

The inability to land a unanimous statement on the missile test points to the difficulty of forging a common Pacific position when member states have different relationships with Beijing. Peters's decision not to name the countries he believes are holding up consensus keeps the diplomatic pressure on the group as a whole rather than singling out individual governments, but it also leaves the core disagreement unresolved heading into the leaders' meeting in Palau. Whether the October Special Leaders' event in Fiji and Tuvalu provides a further opening for a unified position is an open question.