Australia has been a target for nuclear strikes ever since it set up Pine Gap.
That facility is the NSA's eyes and ears on the whole of Asia - uplinking and downlinking to and from US SIGINT and IMINT birds, and Australia's own SIGINT bird that is part of the constellation.
Pine Gap will have played a critical role in the withdrawal from Afghanistan - anyone else wonder why a USAF C-17 made a trip from Guam down here at the height of those festivities?
And should war break out in the South China sea and nukes start being lobbed around - betcha it'll be one of the first places that disappears in a fireball.
Gao's assertion Australia is not already targeted is bull!!!!.
Interestingly, if a senior commentator with very good guangxi at highest levels in the CCP is prepared to speak and behave in such a way in public, imagine what is being said in private?
Even filtering out the usual Chinese propensity for Peking Opera rage and bluster - in my view the tenor of his comments absolutely underline the necessity for Australia to acquire these submarines, and further weapons.
Last edited by tartare; 22nd September 2021 at 04:32.