China's Multi-Front Expansion Sparks Coordinated Pushback Across the Pacific and Australia

Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr has fired the opening shot ahead of next week's Pacific Islands Forum, calling for a "united front" after China test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile with a dummy warhead over Pacific waters near Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands, giving only hours' notice to select countries. "Any one of your islands, we can take out," Whipps said, articulating what he sees as Beijing's unspoken message to the region's smallest nations. The...