What is the plan for submarines in the US, UK and Australia?
An Aux alliance deal will provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines to counter China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific. Beijing is already quite angry with such a move
US President Joe Biden hosted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albini and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in San Diego on Monday, March 13, to announce details of the plan to deliver nuclear-powered submarines.
The announcement comes in the wake of growing concerns about China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region, which Beijing has already expressed considerable displeasure at.
What is an Aux contract?
The joint venture, announced on Monday by the US, UK and Australia-based Aux alliance, represents the first such plan for a security alliance that was first announced in 2021. Under this, Australia has been asked to provide three US Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines.
Under this multi-stage project, the UK and Australia will jointly develop the new submarines first and then operate them together. These will be a sort of “trilaterally developed” submarine, based on the UK’s latest generation design and built in the UK and Australia. However, its key element involves the use of “state-of-the-art” US technology.
President Joe Biden announced it as part of the alliance’s “shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
Under the deal, a force of US and British submarines will also be deployed to Australia, which will help train Australian personnel and boost defenses in the region.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sonak said that the partnership would be such that Britain’s Royal Navy would operate Australian Navy submarines, which would be equipped with US Navy parts and technology.
China’s position on Ox
China says the Oxfam deal is a clear violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Beijing argues that the transfer of nuclear weapons material by nuclear-weapon states to non-nuclear-weapon states is a clear violation of the spirit of the treaty.
Currently, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) includes only the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom and France, which are recognized as nuclear weapon states. None of these countries have nuclear submarines.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing: “We urge the United States, Britain and Australia to stop the Cold War mentality and playing games that serve no one’s interests. Good luck to them.” should respect international obligations and do more things that are conducive to regional peace and stability
What do the Ox countries have to say about nuclear material?
President Joe Biden asserted that the submarines would be “nuclear-powered, but not nuclear-armed.”
He said that these submarines will not have any kind of nuclear weapons. “I don’t see it as a challenge to anybody, whatever we’re doing.”
Australian Prime Minister Albini said the deal “represents the largest single investment in Australia’s defense capability in our entire history.
What are the effects on US-China relations?
Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Monday that China must further improve its security and modernize its military to build a “great wall of steel”. He was speaking at the end of the annual session of Parliament.
“We must fully promote national defense and modernization of the armed forces, and build the armed forces as an ‘iron wall’ that effectively safeguards national sovereignty, security and development interests,” he said. can provide protection from.”
President Joe Biden, when asked if he plans to talk to Xi Jinping soon, said “yes.” However, when asked if he would tell reporters when he would speak, he replied, “No.”
Last month, he said he expected to speak with President Xi Jinping about the Chinese spy balloon dispute.