Australia must speed up efforts to build a military strike capability before nuclear submarines are ready to prepare for China’s possible aggression against Taiwan, Australian shadow Defence Minister Andrew Hastie said.
In a speech at a Business News Politics and policy breakfast in Perth on Nov. 2, Hastie called for the country to “build and maintain a strong deterrent” for “any unilateral military adventurism” by any regional aggressor.
Hastie said Admiral Phil Davidson, the former U.S. Commander of the Indo-Pacific, warned 18 months ago that China could try to take Taiwan by force within six years by 2027.
He also noted that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently said that Beijing intends to move against Taiwan on a “much faster timeline.”…