Australia offers Pentagon island territory for US spy flights

The Australian government says it is open to the idea of allowing the Pentagon to use one of its remote islands in the Indian Ocean as a base to fly spy missions over South and Southeast Asia. Australia’s defense minister, Stephen Smith, was responding to a recent Washington Post report that the US was interested in using Cocos Islands as a new base for surveillance aircraft, including unmanned drones. Smith added, however, that the Islands should be considered as a long-term option, as major infrastructure works would be required to prepare any island for such operations. "It's not currently ideal because one of the first things that we would have to do, and this has been agreed between me and my counterparts, is a substantial infrastructure upgrade, particularly so far as the airfield is concerned," Reuters quoted the defense minister as saying. The move is likely to anger China as the disputed South China Sea would be within flying range of US spy planes. China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Taiwan all claim territory in the South China Sea.