UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — New Zealand internal report warns of Chinese military forays in Pacific

Q1. In analyses of China's expanding naval reach in the Pacific, vessels are frequently described as operating 'beyond the first island chain'. The 'first island chain' is best described as which one of the following?

  • A. The arc of archipelagos running from the Kuril Islands through the Japanese home islands and Ryukyus, Taiwan and the Philippines toward Borneo, enclosing China's near seas
  • B. The line of US-aligned bases running through Hawaii, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands across the central Pacific
  • C. The South Pacific arc formed by the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji
  • D. The northern Pacific arc formed by the Aleutian Islands, Midway and Wake Island

Q2. The December 2025 internal report assessing that Chinese ballistic-missile tests and naval forays would become a 'persistent feature' of the Pacific was jointly prepared by the New Zealand Defence Force together with which one of the following bodies?

  • A. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
  • B. The Government Communications Security Bureau
  • C. The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service
  • D. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet