China militarily threatens Australia: “You are not a worthy opponent”

China has lashed out at its large regional neighbor, Australia, calling its army "weak" and "insignificant" in a moment the two are stuck in a tough trade and diplomatic dispute. All of this happened after the latest joint maneuvers that brought together the armed forces of the United States, Japan, France and Australia and which took place off the coast of Japan.

Beijing has voiced these threats via its official English-language media, Global Times , which recently wrote: “ The Australian military is too weak to be a worthy opponent of China, and if it dares to interfere in a military conflict, for example in the Taiwan Strait, its forces will be among the first to be hit ".

" Australia must not think of provoking and then hiding from China ", continues the relationship with its threats. " Australia is within range of the DF-26 intermediate-range ballistic missile with conventional warhead ."

Exercise Jeanne d'Arc 21 – or ARC21, a code name assigned by the allies, also featured rare airborne and amphibious assault drills, which was seen as training for the assault on small fortress islands that China has built in the disputed areas of the China Sea.

The exercises were described by the Chinese Global Times as follows:

The joint exercises underway by Japanese, US, French and Australian troops, claimed to "serve as a deterrent to China", are only symbolic and of little military significance, as the exercise was organized by participants who have different programs or are too weak, experts said Wednesday, while challenging Japan's outdated mentality of forging alliances to prepare for conflict. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) does not even need to give precise answers to the joint exercise as it is military insignificant.

Japan has also been at the center of Chinese media attacks on the exercise as it has been warned not to let its historic "militarism come to life".

Even in a delicate moment its location for the Summer Olympics is under discussion, the article invited Tokyo not to be distracted by the most pressing pandemic and the health crisis it is facing in these days. Furthermore, a Chinese general warned Tokyo that he would not learn anything from its past history.

Is Australia so defenseless militarily? At the end of World War II, Canberra's air force was the fourth in the world, but demilitarization was rapid. Australia's armed forces, however well trained, are currently small, but Australia also has only 25 million inhabitants. The army has only 47,000 enlisted, the tanks are 59 Abrahams, in short, it is a miniature armed force that must defend an immense territory. On the other hand, it is also true that the large urban areas to be defended from a possible missile attack are a handful, bombing the huge desert is not particularly useful and Canberra has very close defensive pacts with the USA and the Western bloc, even if its eccentric position would be a logistical nightmare in the event of a reallocation of NATO forces. Unlike the case of Japan which would be a very hard nut to crack for Beijing.

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The article China militarily threatens Australia: "You are not a worthy opponent" comes from ScenariEconomici.it .

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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-cina-minaccia-militarmente-laustralia-non-siete-un-degno-avversario/ on Sat, 29 May 2021 08:00:12 +0000.