A QUIET battle lingering over the South China Sea just got a whole lot more dangerous after reports China tested hypersonic glide vehicles capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
The vehicle, dubbed the WU-14, was the fourth test of the missile in 18 months, RT News reports.
The weapon is extremely advanced and can travel at 10 times the speed of sound.
And it’s ticking off the Americans.
The US has labelled the testing as an “extreme manoeuvre” amid tensions in the South China Sea, theSouth China Morning Post reports.
This artist's rendering, provided by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), shows a Hypersonic Technology Vehicle. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
But China has been quick to dismiss any suggestion the tests were anything other than a normal exercise.
“The scheduled scientific research and experiments in our territory is normal, and those tests are not targeted at any country and specific goals,” the ministry told the Post.
Tensions between the two military superpowers have been increasing due to a cluster of tiny islands in the South China Sea.
And the US and China have been doing a lot of peacocking about them.
US Secretary of Defence Ash Carter has previously warned the US would not shy away from confronting Beijing about the continued expansion.
The problem is also placing Australia in an awkward position over who it would be better off being best buddies with.
A Chinese flag, red-coloured, flies from one of the two concrete structures on the Mischief Reef off the disputed Spratlys group of islands in the South China Sea. Picture: AP Photo/Aaron Favila Source: AP
War paradise
The tiny man-made islands popping up in the South China Sea have been dubbed a “flashpoint” of war due to the land grab they inspire.
The Chinese have used dredging engineering to create the islands from what were previously reefs — and it claims it has the sovereign right to do this, despite some of them being 1400km from China’s mainland or on the continental shelfs of the Philippines and Vietnam.
Militarisation of those islands could very well result in conflict between China and US, which runs its ships through the area.
That would drag Australia firmly into the war muck — Australia needs China for trade, but the US is one of its closest defence allies.
As well as US military interests in the area, countries including the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also have a stake in the region.
As each island appears, China stakes a claim in the sea around it and this is the crux of the issue for China’s neighbours.
About 1500 hectares of land has been reclaimed by the Chinese. It gives the country another 12 nautical miles of territory at each new border, and also creates 200 extra miles of economic zones to dig for oil, gas and to fish in.
The deputy dean of global studies at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Professor Joseph Siracussa, told news.com.au that the two nations were “spoiling for a fight”.
Despite the economic ties between China and the global economy, he said it wouldn’t stop a war.
“Economics mean very little at the end of the day,” said Prof Siracussa, who is an expert in human security and international diplomacy.
“Once you militarise a problem, you don’t get a diplomatic solution.
“The [US] Secretary of Defence’s job is to think about the next war and how to beat them up.
“The trigger is there, it’s just waiting to happen,” he said.
During a “Re-assessing the Global Nuclear Order” conference in January, Prof Siracussa said discussions about “inevitable” war between the US and China were quite open and on the table.
“They were discussing the inevitable war with China,” he said.
“This will happen. This is about power.
“The American pentagon is on a collision course with China.
“So the South China Sea has become a flashpoint for war.”
Credit to news.com.au
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