Two-thirds of Australia falls within range of Chinese Missiles, warns a US

Canberra: Two-thirds of Australia’s land area will come within the missile range if China projects an intercontinental ballistic missile from a military base in the South China Sea. A well-known US-based thinktank warned that Queensland, Northern Territory, and Western Australia (WA) area in the north of Australia have been within the scope of Chinese missiles.

China has severely accelerated its militarisation of artificial islands in the South China Sea. The Mischief Reef construction in the Spratly Islands was completed in 2014. China has deployed the Dong Feng-26 (DF-26) intercontinental ballistic missile on the military base built on this island. Chinese systems have claimed that this missile has the ability to penetrate targets at a distance of at least 4000 kilometres.

Hence, the Darwin military base in the north of Australia comes within the range of the DF-26 missile. Along with this, parts of the Queensland state, the Northern Territory, and the far western part of Australia also come within the striking range of the Chinese intercontinental ballistic missile. The deployment of such an intercontinental ballistic missile on Mischief Reef has been a warning, said the US think tank Defence Strategic Review.

The think tank has called for the Australian military to prepare defence measures before facing these Chinese ballistic missiles. The think tank has suggested that Australia’s southern bases should be kept ready to respond to Chinese attacks by increasing military mobilisation. Tension has arisen in the relationship between China, Australia, and the island countries herein. Australia has begun efforts to increase military cooperation with island nations. Thus, the think tank claimed that an enraged China would not miss the opportunity to attack Australia.

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