Australia might join a U.S. missile defense shield to protect against potential ballistic missiles attacks, Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill said yesterday.

“We have to accept that in some circumstances (diplomacy) might fail and there is the potential longer term possibility that Australia could be threatened by a ballistic missile, perhaps with a nuclear warhead,” Hill said.  “And that’s why we’ve at least got to start thinking about the issue as to how you would defend yourself in such circumstance and that’s really what we’re foreshadowing,” he added.

A new Australian defense doctrine, Defense Update 2003, also indicated that Australia would investigate joining a missile defense system.

“Our geography does not protect Australia against rogue states armed with (weapons of mass destruction) and long-range missiles,” the paper says (Tom Allard, Sydney Morning Herald, Feb. 27).

Hill also would not rule out the possibility of U.S. missiles being positioned in Australia as part of a missile defense system.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said that Australia wanted to look at the possibility even though the joint shield might never materialize.

China, however, warned that the move would spark an arms race and regional instability.

A missile defense shield “counteracts the confidence-building efforts in the region and deepens the instability in the region in terms of security,” said Feng Tie, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Canberra (Rob Taylor, Australian Associated Press, Feb. 27).

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