China’s ability to hit Australia with missiles ‘real and growing’, Lowy Institute says

New analysis warns that China’s military is developing a “real and growing” ability to hit the Australian mainland with missiles, and can already threaten Australia’s trade routes, subsea cables and critical infrastructure. The foreign policy think tank, the Lowy Institute, has tracked the “dramatic” scale of Beijing’s vast military build-up, which it calls a “historic shift” with sharp consequences for Australia’s security. The analysis focuses on China’s military capabilities and does not make any predictions about the likelihood of conflict or the prospect of Beijing using military force against Australia. But one of the report’s co-authors, the Lowy Institute’s Sam…