Ajit Karn
Washington: Australia will purchase up to five US nuclear-powered submarines and subsequently construct a new model with US and British technology as part of an ambitious plan to bolster Western power in the Asia-Pacific in the face of a rising China, according to a US official on Monday.
To announce the plan, President Joseph Biden hosted his Australian and British counterparts, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, on a US naval installation in San Diego, California.
Australia, which 18 months ago joined the newly founded AUKUS group along with Washington and London, will not acquire nuclear weapons. With nuclear propulsion, however, the new submarine fleet will contribute significant new strength to the Western alliance’s efforts to counter China’s military expansion.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security advisor, told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to California that the submarine plan exemplified Washington’s long-term commitment to protecting “peace and stability” in the Asia-Pacific region.
Sullivan stated that the partnership with Australia, which entails the sharing of top-secret nuclear technology previously given only to the United Kingdom, is a “decades- or even centuries-long commitment.”
Three conventionally armed, nuclear-powered Virginia-class vessels will be sold “over the course of the 2030s,” with “the possibility of increasing to five if necessary,” according to Sullivan.
The new model, which is also nuclear-powered and can transport conventional munitions, will be known as the SSN-AUKUS, he said. It will be constructed using a British design and American technology, with “significant investments in all three industrial bases,” according to Sullivan.
– Defense expenditures are increasing –
While Australia has ruled out the use of nuclear weapons, its submarine plan represents a significant new phase in the US-led effort to counter expanding Chinese military power, including Beijing’s construction of a sophisticated naval fleet and the development of offshore bases on artificial islands.
In response to the Chinese threat and Russia’s invasion of pro-Western Ukraine, the United Kingdom is strengthening its military capabilities, Sunak’s office announced on Monday.
Over the next two years, additional financing of over $6 billion will “replenish and bolster vital ammunition stocks, modernise the United Kingdom’s nuclear enterprise, and finance the next phase of the AUKUS submarine programme,” according to Downing Street.
Australia had planned to replace its antiquated fleet of diesel-powered submarines with a $66 billion package of conventionally propelled French vessels.
The sudden announcement by Canberra that it was withdrawing from the agreement and joining the AUKUS project prompted an unusually heated argument between the three nations and their close ally France.
Compared to the Collins-class submarines that Australia will retire, the Virginia-class is nearly twice as long and carries 132 crew members, as opposed to 48.
China warned that AUKUS posed a risk of sparking an arms race and accused the three countries of undermining efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing, “We urge the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia to forsake the Cold War mentality and zero-sum games, honour international obligations in good faith, and do more things conducive to regional peace and stability.”
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Last week, the leader of the communist nation, Xi Jinping, issued an impassioned statement condemning the United States of leading a Western effort to “contain, encircle, and suppress” China.
However, according to Washington, Beijing’s threats to invade the self-governing democracy of Taiwan, as well as its emphasis on the threat posed by a nuclear-armed North Korea, are alarming nations throughout the Asia-Pacific.
