"builds islands in the South China Sea, an Australian think tank said on Sunday" [South China Sea]
Island construction in the South China Sea is cited alongside missile development as a co-equal mechanism expanding China's direct strike capability against Australia, linking forward basing to extended power projection.
Reasoning from this article
The article pairs island-building with missile proliferation as twin drivers of expanded strike reach, suggesting that artificial basing infrastructure and long-range weapons are mutually reinforcing rather than independent threats. This generalizes beyond Australia: any nation within the second island chain faces a compounded threat envelope where forward bases reduce the range burden on missiles. The structural dynamic is that territorial engineering substitutes for geographic proximity, a replicable strategy that redefines what 'local' military presence means in maritime theaters.