A Chinese newspaper that is a mouthpiece of President XI Jinping's party informed that Australia is now 'a potential target for a nuclear strike' after Canberra launched an AUKUS pact with the US and UK to build nuclear-powered submarines.
Chinese newspaper Global Times published an article titled "Nuke sub deal could make Australia potential nuclear war target," New York Post reported.
The article also said: "Chinese military experts warned that [AUKUS] will potentially make Australia a target of a nuclear strike if a nuclear war breaks out even when Washington said it won't arm Canberra with nuclear weapons because it's easy for the US to equip Australia with nuclear weapons and submarine-launched ballistic missiles when Australia has the submarines."
The developments came after US President Joe Biden agreed to help Australia build nuclear submarines and launch a new three-country military initiative called AUKUS.
During the formation of AUKUS, none of the three governments made any mention of China, the new partnership is widely understood to be an attempt to counter Beijing's assertiveness in the region, Euronews said.
It plans for deeper diplomatic, security, and defence cooperation between the three capitals with enhanced capabilities and interoperability in cyber, artificial intelligence, and quantum technologies.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Joe Biden said in a statement that their partnership is "guided by our enduring ideals and shared commitment to the international rules-based order."
( With inputs from ANI )
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