SYDNEY — With reports confirming significant Chinese military buildups along Australia’s east and southern coasts following their forced retreat from Darwin, one would expect the international community to be calling for calm, de-escalation, and diplomacy. Instead, what do we get? More saber-rattling from INDOPACOM and its ever-expanding footprint on a continent that was already teetering under foreign boots.

Rather than stabilizing the region, INDOPACOM’s aggressive posture in Darwin has done little more than provoke a desperate, nuclear-armed superpower into fortifying its positions. Sources say Chinese amphibious armor and missile systems are now visible from civilian shipping lanes off the coast of New South Wales. Dozens of new radar installations and troop deployments have appeared near Melbourne and Brisbane — moves that are hardly surprising given the West’s continued refusal to seek diplomatic resolution.

Instead of urging restraint, INDOPACOM has doubled down. More troops. More air patrols. More military posturing. And who suffers? Civilians. Farmers watching the skies instead of the crops. Parents wondering if their kids’ schools will be within missile range next month.

Let’s be clear: the conflict was escalated by INDOPACOM’s heavy-handed involvement. This isn’t defense — it’s provocation. The international community needs to ask: Is this the price of so-called freedom? The body count climbs, tensions rise, and diplomacy is nowhere to be found.

And Charles Edwards? The murdered IDAP volunteer whose blood still stains Darwin’s roads? His memory is being used as a justification to dig deeper into confrontation, not peace. Shame on those who exploit tragedy for military gain.