China has hit out at Australia's plans to develop advanced hypersonic missiles with the US - labelling the strategy a 'potential threat' to the Asian superpower. The Morrison government announced on Tuesday plans to build and test the high-tech cruise missiles that can travel at five times the speed of sound and sink aircraft carriers. The missiles, designed to be fired from fighter jets, will be capable of flying the distance between Sydney and Melbourne in seven minutes.
Defence contractors are expected to take five to 10 years to complete the project, but the proposal prompted fierce backlash from state-controlled Chinese newspaper The Global Times.
'The latest move of developing missiles with the US could make Australia a potential threat to China,' an article in the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece said on Wednesday....MORE
