The giant aircraft will operate from the Tindal base, south of Darwin in the Northern Territory. They have a combat range of about 8,699 miles, comfortably reaching Beijing. US documents obtained by Australian media claimed they had drawn up detailed plans for a “squadron operations facility” at the base, as well as an adjacent maintenance centre. “The US Air Force’s bomber deployment capability in Australia sends a strong message to our adversaries about our ability to project lethal air power,” the US Air Force told the Four Corners program. China has said the deployments risk sparking a new arms race in the region. Asked for comment at a regular briefing on Monday, Zhao Lijia, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, said defense and security cooperation between the countries should not target third parties. “The US side’s related practices have increased tensions in the region, seriously undermined regional peace and stability, and may trigger an arms race in the region,” Mr. Zhao said.
Drag Australia into future conflict
Critics in Australia also warned that the move could lead the country into a future conflict between China and the US. Richard Tanter, an anti-nuclear campaigner from the Nautilus Institute, told the ABC the move significantly widened Australia’s commitment to any US war with China. “It’s a sign to the Chinese that we’re willing to be the tip of the spear,” he said. “It is very difficult to think of a more open commitment that we could make … a more open message to the Chinese that we are going along with American planning for a war with China,” he added. David Shoebridge, a senator in the Australian parliament, condemned the plan as a “dangerous escalation”. “It makes Australia an even bigger part of the global nuclear threat to the very existence of humanity – and by increasing military tensions it further destabilizes our region,” he added. Anthony Albanese, the Australian prime minister, appeared to play down the news, confirming that Australia works with the US on defense alliances “from time to time”. “There are of course visits to Australia, including Darwin which has US Marines, of course, on rotation stationed there,” he said during a news conference. The deployment of the B-52s to Australia will serve as a warning to Beijing as fears of an attack on Taiwan grow, Becca Wasser, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for a New American Security, told ABC. This year, the US deployed four B-52s to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, a US island territory in the Western Pacific.
