China missile strikes could reach ‘two-thirds’ of Australia, says report

China has the potential to launch missile strikes across “two-thirds” of Australia, an alarming new report has claimed.

China has the potential to launch missile strikes across “two-thirds” of Australia, an alarming new report has claimed.

According to the Townsville Bulletin, the 33-page submission to the Defence Strategic Review, created by former defence analysts and the Rand Corporation, includes a map revealing just how much of the country is vulnerable to potential strikes from Beijing.

The submission claims that Australia is well and truly within striking distance of Chinese missiles, and that artificial reefs and atolls in the South China Sea would allow China to fire “land-based DF-26 intermediate-range ballistic missile strikes”, with the Mischief Reef atoll, 3000km northwest of Darwin, of particular concern.

The report states this creates a “ring range” over a number of ADF facilities in parts of Queensland, the Northern Territory and northern parts of Western Australia.

The report pushes for stockpiles, fuel depots and potential military bases to move further south in mainland Australia to better defend the country.

China's President Xi Jinping. Picture: Jack Taylor/AFP

The Defence Strategic Review was announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in August, and is designed to “help Defence to better understand where it should prioritise investment” to “ensure the Australian Defence Force is well positioned to meet the nation’s security challenges through to 2033 and beyond”.

Submissions closed on November 30, and parts of the final report will be made public in March 2023.

It comes amid a period of growing tensions with China in the region, with NSW Liberal Senator Jim Molan recently claiming Australia had already “lost control entirely” of the South China Sea.

He explained China, under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, had mastered the art of the so-called “grey zone” – which he described as aggressive actions which do not go far enough to descend into armed conflict.

Buildings and structures are seen on the artificial island built by China in Mischief Reef on the Spratly Islands, South China Sea. Picture: Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

“The greatest example of that is the South China Sea, where China started taking parts of the South China Sea and claiming them for themselves,” he told Sky News host Paul Murray.

“There was a bit of weak protest from the Western world, and President Xi said, ‘We’ll never militarise them’ – well, it’s the most militarised part of the world, and if there was a message there, we certainly didn’t respond to that message or act on that message, and we have lost control entirely of the South China Sea.

“I suspect they’re doing that with the East China Sea [as well] … near Japan – I think that’s going on at the very moment.

“What we need is an overall strategy which looks at all the threats to Australia … starting tomorrow and going out 20 years.”

China’s terrifying ‘nuclear expansion’

Details of the submission come just days after the Pentagon warned that China’s nuclear arsenal will hit 1500 warheads by 2035, with Washington identifying Beijing as the most significant challenge to the US in a new report.

Titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China”, the report read: “The Department of Defence estimates that [China’s] operational nuclear warheads stockpile has surpassed 400.

“If China continues the pace of its nuclear expansion, it will likely field a stockpile of about 1500 warheads [by 2035].”

China’s air force is ‘rapidly catching up to Western air forces’. Picture: Andrew Beatty/AFP

However, that figure is far less than the arsenals of the US and Russia, which according to the Federation of American Scientists were at 5428 warheads in the US compared to Russia’s 5977 earlier this year.

The report claimed that China intended to “develop new nuclear warheads and delivery platforms” that at least match those under development by the US and Russia.

Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said an increase in the Chinese nuclear arsenal would be a source of instability.

“The more proliferation there is, the more concerning it is, the more destabilising to the region it is,” he said.

In addition to its proliferation, the report also stated Beijing was modernising its ballistic missile arsenal, launching about 135 in testing over 2021.

“(That was) more than the rest of the world combined,” excluding those fired in conflicts, according to the report.

“(China is) developing new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that will significantly improve its nuclear-capable missile forces,” the report said.

– with AFP and Jack Evans