The announcement was part of a new trilateral partnership between the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom that the leaders of the three countries jointly revealed on Wednesday afternoon.
“The United States, Australia and the United Kingdom have long been loyal and capable partners and today we are even closer,” the president said. “Today we are taking another historic step to deepen and formalize cooperation between the three nations, because we all recognize the imperative of ensuring long-term peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.”
The association is launching what is expected to be a wave of diplomatic engagements for Biden this autumn, from next week’s UN meetings to the White House Asian leaders ’summit to the White House talks. October 20 group in Italy.
The new partnership between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia (three English-speaking maritime democracies) is not specifically about China, officials insisted before the announcement. Instead, they said the three countries would maintain a schedule of meetings over the coming months to coordinate on cyber issues, advanced technologies and advocacy to try to better address current security challenges. The new association is called AUKUS, which is pronounced “kiss”.
Still, it is the move towards establishing nuclear submarine capacity in Australia, which officials say will allow the country to operate militarily at a much higher level, which will be the focus of the announcement. Nuclear submarines are able to maneuver at greater speed and endurance, and with more stealth, than conventional ones, which have to come out more often.
“This allows Australia to play at a much higher level and increase US capabilities,” a senior administration official said before the announcement. “It’s about maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.”
Biden, during Wednesday’s announcement, also stated that the establishment of AUKUS is necessary because “we need to be able to address both the current strategic environment of the region and its evolution.”
“Because the future of each of our nations and, in fact, of the world, depends on a free and open Indo-Pacific, lasting and flourishing in the coming decades. It is about investing in our greatest strength, our alliances. and updating them to better meet today’s and tomorrow’s threats, “the president added.
“This technology is extremely sensitive”
Top Australian officials met in Washington on Wednesday with their counterparts, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, ahead of the formal announcement. During statements Wednesday evening, Biden announced that Austin would lead efforts by the U.S. government in close collaboration with the State Department and the Department of Energy.
U.S. officials said details of the new partnership had been kept close as they developed over the past few weeks and months, but that other allies and government stakeholders will be briefed on the details in the coming weeks. days.
The United States and the United Kingdom plan to send technical and strategic equipment to identify the best way for Australia to acquire nuclear submarines over the next 18 months. It was unclear what the new plan for a $ 90 billion deal Australia had already made with France for conventional submarines meant.
U.S. officials described the effort to help the country with nuclear propulsion as an extremely rare step among allies, taken only once before, which somehow goes against established practice in the United States.
“This technology is extremely sensitive. This is, frankly, an exception to our policy in many ways,” the official said.
It was necessary, they said, to send a message of reassurance to Asian countries. It comes amid growing tensions between the United States and China, which are maneuvering to limit the global influence of others.
U.S. officials insisted the intent of the new partnership was not to specifically challenge China.
“This partnership is not aimed at any country, but is advancing our strategic interests, maintaining order based on international standards and promoting peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific,” he said. officials.
Unite allies against China
Still, the announcement is the U.S.’s last step in backtracking on China’s military and technological rise. Next week, Biden will host a face-to-face summit of the QUAD partnership from Japan, Australia and India, another group seen as a way to assert American leadership in Asia. He has also tried to involve other Asian leaders and Vice President Kamala Harris visited Singapore and Vietnam late last month.
Biden on Tuesday denied reports that Xi, in his phone call, declined an invitation to meet in person. U.S. officials say they still hope to hold a face-to-face meeting between the two leaders, but are not sure it will take place outside the G20 in late October. This is mainly because Xi has not confirmed that he will physically attend the summit, which is being held in Rome. Xi has not left China in about 600 days since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Xi may be virtually participating in the summit, and U.S. officials do not rule out a virtual meeting between Biden and Xi. Biden, however, has said it is preferable to sit in person with foreign leaders than virtual meetings or phone calls, and has told private aides that he does not believe so much can be achieved when meeting remotely.
Proof of commitment
After a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan that sparked questions about Biden’s willingness to remain committed abroad, officials said the new announcement should act as proof of the president’s continued willingness to keep side with the Allies and maintain a rule-based order in Asia.
“Over the last few years there have been questions: does the United States still have a stomach, do we have the ingenuity and wisdom that we want to continue to play this role?” said a senior administration official.
“What President Biden says about this initiative is ‘Count on us.’ We are all committed to a deeper and more sustained commitment to the Indo-Pacific. “, continued the official.
He also hopes to have a bigger role in Asia in the UK, which under Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tried to pursue a more committed “global Britain” strategy abroad. At times, this effort has occurred, especially when Johnson is working to contain the Covid-19 pandemic at home and protect his country from the economic consequences of Brexit.
Still, U.S. officials have received indications from their British counterparts that the UK hopes to “substantially intensify its game in the Indo-Pacific” and believe the new partnership with Australia can help advance that goal.
Prior to the announcement, Johnson undertook a major reshuffle of his cabinet ministers, including the reassignment of his foreign secretary. The shock did not appear to be directly related to his later announcement with Biden and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
U.S. officials said cooperation between the three countries was limited to nuclear propulsion and said Australia had no intention of seeking nuclear weapons.
During his statements on Wednesday, Biden stressed that the AUKUS submarine project would use conventionally armed submarines, not nuclear armed ones.
“We’re not talking about nuclear-armed submarines. These are conventionally armed submarines that run on nuclear reactors,” Biden said. “This technology is proven, it’s safe, and the United States and the United Kingdom have been operating nuclear-powered submarines for decades.”