President Biden and the leaders of Australia and the United Kingdom announced on Monday that Australia would buy US nuclear-powered attack submarines to upgrade its fleet amid growing concern over the influence of China in the Indo-Pacific.
Mr Biden flew to San Diego to appear with Australian and British Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak as they hailed an 18-month-old nuclear partnership under the acronym Aukus – for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. . The partnership, announced in 2021, gives Australia access to nuclear-powered submarines, which are stealthier and more capable than conventionally powered ships, as a counterbalance to communist China’s military expansion.
Mr Biden, appearing sensitive to tensions with Beijing and its criticisms of the deal, stressed that the submarines are “nuclear-powered, not armed”.
“These boats will have no nuclear weapons of any kind on them,” he said at an outdoor ceremony at Naval Station Point Loma in San Diego, where he was flanked by British and Australians. Two submarines, the USS Missouri and the USS Charlottewere moored to the next jetty in the Pacific Ocean behind them.
Mr Albanese said the deal “represents the biggest investment in Australia’s defense capability in our history”. It’s also the first time in 65 years that the United States has shared nuclear propulsion technology, “and we thank you for that,” he said.
Mr Sunak called Aukus “the most important multilateral defense partnership in generations”. He said Britain would also share its 60 years of experience running its own submarine fleet with Australian engineers “so they can build their own fleet”.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Washington. hasn’t struck that kind of deal since helping Britain develop nuclear submarines in 1958 during the Cold War.
In January, Australia announced plans to purchase advanced sea mines to protect its shipping routes as the Chinese threat in the Pacific grows.
In a joint statement ahead of the official announcement, the three leaders said their countries have worked for decades to maintain peace, stability and prosperity around the world, including in the Indo-Pacific.
Australia is buying three, and possibly up to five, Virginia-class fast attack submarines as part of Aukus. A future generation of submarines will be built in Britain and Australia with American technology and support. America will also increase port visits to Australia to learn more about nuclear-powered technology before it has its own submarines. THE USS Asheville was docked in Perth, Australia on Monday, Mr Biden said.
Mr Sunak invited Mr Biden, who is of Irish descent, to visit Northern Ireland in April to help celebrate the 25th anniversary of his peace deal, the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Mr Biden replied that he “intends” to go to both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. In a subsequent meeting with Mr. Albanese, Mr. Biden said he plans to travel to Australia in May for meetings that will include the leaders of Japan and India.
Mr. Biden sees partnerships and alliances in the region as cornerstones of US strategy for years to come. Asked if Aukus would survive if a new, more isolationist president were elected — a veiled reference to Donald Trump, who is seeking another term — Mr Biden said yes.
The secretly negotiated Aukus deal included the Australian government’s cancellation of a $66 billion contract for a fleet of French-built conventional submarines, sparking a diplomatic row within the Western alliance. which took months to repair.
China argued that the Aukus deal violated the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. He argues that the transfer of nuclear material from a nuclear-weapon state to a non-nuclear-weapon state is a “flagrant” violation of the spirit of the pact. Australian officials brushed off criticism, saying they were working to acquire nuclear-powered, not nuclear-armed, submarines.
“The question really is how China chooses to respond because Australia doesn’t back down from what it thinks it is doing in its own interests here,” said Charles Edel, senior adviser and Australian chair of the Center for Studies. strategic and international. . “I think probably from Beijing’s perspective, they’ve already counted Australia as a courtable hub country. He seemed to have completely entered the American camp.
San Diego was Mr Biden’s first stop on a three-day trip to California and Nevada. He will discuss gun violence prevention in Monterey Park, Calif., where 11 people were killed in a mass shooting in January, and his plans to reduce prescription drug costs in Las Vegas. The trip will include fundraising stops as Mr Biden ramps up his political activity ahead of a re-election announcement due next month.
A fundraiser in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., on Monday night was expected to include about 40 attendees and raise $1 million for Democrats, according to a Democratic National Committee official.