U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on Australia, United Kingdom, United States (AUKUS) Partnership as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia take part at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego, California, United States.
Tayfun Coskun | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
The trilateral protection and security pact between the Australia, U.Okay., and U.S. — generally known as AUKUS — is just not going to set off a nuclear arms race within the Indo-Pacific area, stated the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.
The security framework seeks to strengthen stability and never “create a problem,” Ambassador Bonnie Denise Jenkins stated at a media briefing on Tuesday. “There’s some incorrect information out there about the purpose of AUKUS and what we’re trying to do.”
The AUKUS alliance was forged in 2021 to deal with shared regional considerations about China’s rising army energy and affect. It concerned Australia buying nuclear-powered attack submarines, amongst different gadgets of protection cooperation.
China responded at that time, warning of the hazard of an arms race in addition to nuclear proliferation.
“It’s very important that countries understand that this is not to create a race — to create any kind of arms’ races. Nuclear-powered submarines are allowed under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and Australia is not going to become a nuclear weapons state,” she added.
Jenkins stated the alliance companions will proceed to work with the International Atomic Energy Agency to make sure that “we are doing everything to have the highest operation standards in what we’re trying to do.”Â
China’s response
China reiterated its warning that Western powers within the AUKUS security pact are upsetting division and risking nuclear proliferation within the South Pacific in its newest remarks.
“Through AUKUS, the US is bent on bringing the development of nuclear submarine into the region, which violates the purposes of the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty and creates severe risks of nuclear proliferation,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a ministry presser.Â
He accused the the U.S. of bringing “even more countries into the grouping under false pretext,” including that “China has always opposed bloc confrontation in this region.”
Earlier this month, AUKUS protection ministers stated they have been contemplating cooperation with Japan beneath Pillar 2 of the AUKUS framework. Pillar 2 consists of areas corresponding to cyber, synthetic intelligence, quantum applied sciences and undersea capabilities.
“Recognizing Japan’s strengths and its close bilateral defense partnerships with all three countries, we are considering cooperation with Japan on AUKUS Pillar II advanced capability projects,” the statement said.
Jenkins stated there is no “timeline for Japan or any other country with which we are consulting about additional partnerships.”
“It is critical that we conduct a very deliberate process. These are discussions that we’re going to be having with countries based on things that we think are important in terms of what additional partners can bring.”