New Delhi, Sept. 5 -- Leaders of Pacific nations agreed at their summit to register collective "concern" about China's launch of a ballistic missile into their waters, but they said Thursday their statement wasn't unanimous and stopped short of a sterner rebuke of Beijing's actions.

The willingness of the Pacific Island Forum's member countries and territories to agree during this event to a joint reproach of China for the missile launch in July was seen by some as a litmus test for how much the geopolitical jostling in the region among major powers had destabilized relations among the group of mainly small island states.

The test launch came after China conducted a missile test in the Pacific two years ago, firing an intercontinental b...