This is exactly the sort of risk we were talking about in May 27's "Battery Metals and Rare Earths: The U.S. Will Use The Slightly Controversial Blanche DuBois Extraction Method".
From ZeroHedge, May 29:
Following now completed joint war games held by the US, Japan, France and Australia in the East China Sea off the southwest coast of Japan earlier this month, China has lashed out particularly at its large regional neighbor Australia, calling its military "weak" and "insignificant" at a moment the two are locked in a severe trade and diplomatic tit-for-tat dispute.
Beijing voiced specific threats and warnings via its state-run English language mouthpiece Global Times, which recently wrote, "Australia's 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 Straits, its forces will be among the first to be hit."
"Australia must not think it can hide from China if it provokes," the report continued with its threats. "Australia is within range of China's conventional warhead-equipped DF-26 intermediate-range ballistic missile."
Exercise Jeanne d'Arc 21 - or ARC21, as the Western alliance called it, also featured rare amphibious assault landing drills, which is seen as aimed at challenging China's expansive claims over regional island-chains and contested reef areas on which it's built up military installations.
Here's more from the GT column's response...
The ongoing joint exercises by Japanese, US, French and Australian troops, claimed to "serve as a deterrent to China," is only symbolic and of little military significance, as the drill was put together by participants that have different agenda or are too weak, experts said on Wednesday, while slamming Japan's outdated mindset of rallying alliances for confrontation.
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) doesn't even need to make pointed responses to the joint drill since it's insignificant militarily.Japan was also focus of China's media attacks over the exercise as it was warned not to let its historic "militarism come back to life"....
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Recently:
"China needs to make a plan to deter extreme forces of Australia"
