20 September, Kona, Hawaii. The Conference of Indo-Pacific Heads of Defense 2024 has brought together, on the one hand, Admiral Samuel Paparo, the supreme leader of the Indo-Pacific forces of the United States, and on the other hand, the visitor, General Wu Yanan, the top leader of the South Theatre of the Chinese Army. They are by no means friends; they are known only: ten days before we first spoke of video conferencing. Yes, they were fair and courteous.

Perhaps because of this courtesy, in an interruption of Kona's speeches, Wu would have told Paul: “Don’t forget to tell you that in the coming days we have to do a small experiment, there, to the south of the Pacific; tell your people to calm down, that it’s nothing, it’s a routine.” Because if I hadn't told you, everything would be even more serious. Confidence in these cases is expensive.

On 25 September, in the light of the day, China launched a ICBM, an intercontinental missile without a nuclear head, of course, to the center of the Pacific. The Beijing spokesman immediately said that it was a "routine annual military training". It seems that the years in China are long: He did it in the spring of 1980. 44 years ago.

It was reported that the test had been carried out as planned, and earlier NOTAM suggested that his head, after a half-hour flight, would board in the north-west of the Marquesas Islands. 12,000 kilometres. A misunderstanding could have concluded that the same distance would be, for example, the launch site, which is under the orders of General Wu, and the one between California and Washington.

The 2019 giant parade saw only the DF-41 missile once again. But then he came to direct the sender of the message: The even older DF-31AG missile was the one used. So that the recipient of the message does not get the accounts wrong. The DF-41 stays for something else.

We return to the era of intercontinental messenger missiles, as when we were in the “best” moments of the Cold War. We started the year with the ups and downs of the Sentinel project, which in June someone thought it was convenient to launch a LGM-30 Minutes from California to the Kwajalein Atoll to dispel doubts about the project. And Russia is continuing its Sarmat project, which has failed. And China recovers the “routine.”

What we don't know is whether each party correctly understands each other's messages.