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CHINA has resolved to build a new, long-range stealth strike bomber capable of extending its reach deep into the Pacific as the emerging world power continues to flex its new-found muscle.

The state-run China Daily newspaper last week devoted a full page feature article to the military talks which focused on future developments for the People’s Liberation Army and its air force (PLAAF).

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“The air force does need an intercontinental strategic bomber capable of penetrating an enemy’s air defences,” the article reads.

Chief among the stated requirements for the new design is the ability to carry 10 tons of bombs and missiles a minimum of 8000km without refuelling.

From China’s southernmost Hainan province, Darwin is 4100km distant, Perth is 5600km and Sydney is 7300km. The major US mid-Pacific military base at Guam would also be well within reach.

These distances will soon be greatly diminished once several new military air bases being built on artificial islands in the disputed Spratly Islands are completed.

Defence analysts noted late last year the rapid construction of these new military bases would — for the first time — bring Australian cities within reach of existing Chinese bombers — the much upgraded, though antiquated, H-6K.

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Rumours of a new Chinese stealth bomber to rival the 25-year-old B-2 “Spirit” of the United States have been circulating on Chinese military blogs for some time.

Given the unofficial designation H-X, or sometimes H-20, the only certain elements of its design are stealth and its role in a new US-style strategic “triad” of nuclear-weapons carrying aircraft, submarines and land-based missile sites.

This significance has been reflected in the PLAAF being designated a “strategic force”. This title had previously only applied to the PLA’s Second Artillery Corps which is responsible for the nation’s intercontinental ballistic missile arsenal.

But the China Daily article also acknowledged the difficult task which lay ahead, stating such an aircraft would require “a state-of-the-art structure and aerodynamic configuration as well as a high-performance turbofan engine”.

“All of these are major problems facing the Chinese aviation industry,” the publication’s deputy editor Wang Yanan added. “I don’t think these difficulties can be resolved within a short period of time.”

China has been rapidly modernising and expanding its navy in recent years — fielding its first aircraft carrier as a steady stream of new warships and submarines enter service.

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The China Daily article and a series of new official reports — including China’s May 2015 Defence White Paper — appears to indicate the air force is set to receive similar attention.

The United States, with its ever-tightening budget situation, runs the risk it will fall into the same economic trap it set for the former Soviet Union — engaging in an unaffordable arms race to keep abreast of spiralling technological developments.