AUKUS

Introduction

 AUKUS is a new three-way strategic defence alliance between Australia, the UK and US.
 The Aukus security pact is a trilateral partnership that will involve the US and UK providing
Australia with the technology and capability to deploy nuclear-powered submarines.

 It will mean nuclear submarines are built in Adelaide, South Australia, and will be the first
time the UK and US have shared nuclear capabilities with another nation.
 Only six countries in the world have nuclear submarines and the pact will see at least eight
built.
 The UK presently has 11 nuclear submarines and France has eight
 It initially was to build a class of nuclear-propelled submarines.
 It will also to work together in the Indo-Pacific region, where the rise of China is seen as an
increasing threat, and develop wider technologies.
 The deal marks the first time the US has shared nuclear propulsion technology with an ally apart
from the UK.
 The agreement covers key areas such as artificial intelligence, cyber warfare, underwater
capabilities, and long-range strike capabilities.
 It also includes a nuclear component, possibly limited to the US and the UK , on nuclear defence
infrastructure.
 The agreement will focus on military capability, separating it from the Five Eyes intelligence-
sharing alliance that also includes New Zealand and Canada

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSES
FRANCE

 Since 2016 France has been in negotiations with Australia to build a fleet of 12 conventional
diesel-electric submarines in a deal worth £48 billion ($90bn).
 The announcement of Aukus this week has seen Australia cancel its contract with France
resulting in the loss of major investment and job opportunities for the nation.
 France says it feels “betrayed” by the unprecedented step of withdrawing its US
ambassadors.

 A statement from the French embassy said the decision to “exclude” France “shows a lack of
coherence that France can only note and regret” while the French foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le
Drian, less diplomatically called the deal “a stab in the back”.
CHINA
 A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said the three countries were in the grip of an
“obsolete cold war zero sum mentality and narrow-minded geopolitical concepts” and
should “respect regional people’s aspiration otherwise they will only end up hurting
their own interests”.
  China also questioned Australia’s commitment to nuclear non-proliferation, while the
state-run Global Times, which often takes a harder line than Chinese officials, said:
“Australian troops are also most likely to be the first batch of western soldiers to waste
their lives in the South China Sea.”
Impacts
 Relations between Beijing and Washington look set to continue on their current tricky
path, while the western alliance has also been shaken.
 Emmanuel Macron believed Australian concerns had been assuaged, despite Canberra
repeatedly warning France about delays and overruns, but it may also be the US made
Australia a deal it could not refuse.
 However, it also seems apparent the US did not trust Macron on China, since he often
said he wanted to steer a middle course between two great powers, speaking of an
autonomous Europe operating beside America and China
 China faces a powerful new defence alliance in the Indo-Pacific, one that has been
welcomed by regional partners such as Japan.
 It also reaffirms that, after Brexit, the US still wants the UK, and not the EU, engaged as
its key military partner.
 It also gives Biden focus for his post-Afghanistan tilt to Asia.