Oh, by the way, Red China just mastered its sea-based leg of the nuclear triad

While the attention here, and around the country, is focused on the Third Gulf War, it has gone unnoticed and unremarked upon that nearly a month ago, the People's Liberation Army Navy fired an intercontinental missile 4,535 miles to the open ocean east of Fiji.

Red China fired the missile the same day Australia and Fiji signed a mutual defense pact.

Soon after the test firing, which carrying a dummy warhead, State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott, said: “Beijing’s rapid and opaque nuclear weapons buildup is of great concern to the region and the world.”

Two days later, State complained that the test was somewhat rogue.

“China’s notification to the United States came only a few hours before the launch and failed to provide sufficient details,” the statement read.

But, of course, you, dear reader, are just hearing about it now.

For the Australians, it was a very big deal.

“There is no doubt that this is a provocative act by China, which does destabilize the region,” said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. “We don’t want to see any action that is destabilizing or which undermines the peace, security and stability of the Pacific and the region.”

If the missile had been targeted 39 degrees clockwise, and extended the range 4,570 miles, the missile would have hit Sydney. Melbourne would have been 46 degrees farther clockwise and another 4,590 miles.

The test was Red China’s first full-on submarine ballistic missile launch, where its submarine on patrol at-sea received orders from land-based command-and-control, and successively fired its missile at its intended target, as stipulated in the warnings, at an intercontinental range.

In the past, these tests, which are still rare, were heretofore unannounced and at local ranges inside Mainland China’s own waters.

This missile’s path took it from its South China Sea point-of-origin over the northern provinces of the Philippines, and into a sector of the Pacific Ocean designated as the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone.

The test itself was its own warning to: Australia, Guam, Hawaii and perhaps the United States proper that the ChiComs have mastered the third leg of the nuclear triad.

China has nuclear-armed bombers, but it does not have its H-6N heavy bombers constantly in the air, like America’s B-52’s. Thus, this leg is still underutilized.

Having the sea-based leg of the triad means China has so-called second strike capability, so that when its land-based missiles are taken out, its nuclear-armed submarines are still on the loose and able to return strategic fire.

Of course, the Australians are woefully unprepared. Their navy has 30 vessels, but three are landing crafts and six are patrol boats. The Royal Australian Navy has three destroyers, seven frigates and six submarines–hardly a match for what the PLAN has in its inventory.

Besides, faced with missiles that can accurately hit targets more than 4,000 miles away, there is little for the Australians to do anyway.

What about Taiwan?

At least the Australians can take solace in the fact that they are actually not on China’s dance card. That honor goes to the Republic of China, also known as Taiwan.

Taiwan has been watching from the sidelines as in 2014, President Barack Obama ignored the American commitment to protect Ukraine, when Russian paramilitaries joined the Ukrainian Civil War.

Then, it watched as President Joseph R. Biden Jr., stripped Army Prepositioned Stock sites around the world, along with other military depots, in order to support the Kyev government after Russia’s conventional intervention in the country’s civil war.

To the Taiwanese, it was like getting slapped with both sides of the sword.

First, the U.S. casually dismissed its obligation to help a friend–not a confidence builder for a country dependent on U.S. commitments.

Then, the U.S. transferred munitions, gear and other materiel to the Kiev government that Taiwan was expected to be sent its way when the time arose.

All of this was before the Third Gulf War, where U.S. munitions have been fired at such a rate that for some weapons systems such as the sea-launched Tomahawk, it will be at least four years before stockpiles reach their levels in January.

Not only are the weapons Taiwan expects the U.S. to use on its behalf expended, but now its own orders for the very same munitions are severely backlogged.

Throw in that Red China now has professionalized its standoff sea-based leg of the nuclear, and now whenever the national leadership turns away from the Third Gulf War, there is another mess in East Asia, and the side with all its ammo is not us.