BEIJING: China's Defence Ministry appears to have confirmed a test of an intercontinental missile over disputed waters in the South China Sea.

A three-sentence statement posted on the ministry's website Thursday posed the question of whether China had fired an ICBM in the area of the South China Sea, which is claimed almost entirely by China.

In its response, the ministry said China maintains that technological research experiments conducted within China's boundaries are normal and are not aimed at any specific nations or targets.

The statement follows a report in the US newspaper Washington Free Beacon that quoted unidentified Pentagon officials as saying China tested its longest-range DF-41 missile on Tuesday. The report did not say where the test took place, but said it involved two multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles.