US pushes through submarine deal

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US President Joe Biden and UK and Australian heads of government Rishi Sunak and Anthony Albanese announced a concrete timetable for equipping Australia with nuclear-powered submarines at a meeting in San Diego on Monday (local time). military deterrent in the fortification of the Indo-Pacific region. They had already set the overall goal 18 months ago – now they are presenting the details for the large-scale project worth billions.

The grid

Joint exercises are initially planned for the coming years, as well as the training of Australian seamen, engineers and technicians on nuclear-powered submarines. US and British submarines will call at more ports in Australia and Australian seamen will be integrated into US and British submarine units. Rotating US and British submarine units must be stationed in Australia from 2027.

Once the Australians are properly trained, they would build their own nuclear-powered submarine fleet, it said. Australia will initially purchase three conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines from the United States, with the option to purchase two more if required. Ultimately, the three countries want to develop and produce a new submarine model that combines American, British and Australian technology. This will be the first to be built in the UK from the late 2030s and in Australia itself from the 2040s.

No nuclear weapons

Biden described the security alliance as a “powerful entity”. During the meeting at a military port in San Diego on the west coast of the US, the US president stressed that the submarine pact had nothing to do with nuclear weapons. “These submarines are nuclear-powered, not nuclear-armed,” he said. “These boats will not carry nuclear weapons.” The nuclear propulsion is tested and safe. The US and UK have used it for nearly 70 years and both countries’ submarines have circumnavigated the globe without incident. The technology is now shared with Australia.

Sunak spoke of a “powerful partnership” and stressed: “For the first time ever, three submarine fleets in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans will work together to keep our oceans free, open and thriving for decades to come.” Albanese said the project strengthens his country’s national security and stability across the region.

A message to China?

The US, UK and Australia launched their security alliance called Aukus in September 2021. The name is derived from the English abbreviations of the three countries (AUS, UK and USA). Security experts see the alliance and its project primarily as an attempt to counter China’s growing hunger for power in the Indo-Pacific – even if the three countries assure that their alliance is by no means directed against any specific country.

Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, stressed that the alliance is not sending a message to any single country. Rather, it is a positive message to all countries in the region and the world. The announcement of the plans did not come out of the blue, but had been prepared for more than 18 months. “Indeed, we have consulted closely with allies, partners and countries in the Indo-Pacific region,” he said, “and we have spoken directly with China to explain to them what Aukus is and is not.”

Potential for further disruptions

In 2021, Beijing reacted with outrage to the creation of the Aukus Alliance. Since then, tensions between China and the US have escalated over a range of issues. China’s head of state Xi Jinping recently took an unusually sharp tone in public, accusing the United States and the West of trying to prevent China’s rise to power in the world. He spoke of “containment, encirclement and suppression of China”.

When asked by reporters if he feared Xi would view the new Aukus initiative as aggression given these statements, Biden simply said, “No.” When asked if he planned to speak to Xi in person, Biden replied, “Yes.” The US president and his team did not say exactly when that could happen. Recently, communication between the two governments has been kept to a minimum.

Elsewhere in the world, the three Aukus countries also caused resentment with their pact: France was downright angry when the new alliance was presented in 2021, because the Aukus pact broke a €56 billion contract for the supply of French submarines to Australia .

(SDA)

Source: Blick