(Bloomberg) — Australia is joining a new Indo-Pacific security partnership with the U.S. and U.K. that will allow it to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, likely signaling the end of its deal with France to buy conventional craft.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, U.S. President Joe Biden and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the trilateral security partnership in a virtual meeting on Wednesday.
The first major initiative “will be to deliver a nuclear powered submarine fleet for Australia,” Morrison said, who said the vessels would be built in his country. “Over the next 18 months we will work together to seek the best way forward to achieve this.”
The new framework comes as China expands its military presence in the region, though a senior U.S. official said it isn’t targeting China or any other country. As part of the agreement, the countries intend to increase cooperation on other defense measures, such as cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
“We all recognize the imperative of ensuring peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific over the long term,” Biden said. “We need to be able to address both the current strategic environment in the region and how it may evolve, because the future of each of our nations and indeed the world depends on a free and open Indo-Pacific, enduring and flourishing in the decades ahead,” he added.
The nuclear-powered submarines would be conventionally armed, the president added. The countries will begin 18-months of talks over requirements that must be met for obtaining the submarines, and to ensure compliance with existing treasures. Australia isn’t seeking nuclear weapons, Morrison added.
“Only a handful of countries possess nuclear-powered submarines, and it is a momentous decision for any nation to acquire this formidable capability and perhaps equally momentous for any other state to come to its aid,” Johnson said.
The plan to use American and British technology for a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines would scrap Australia’s $90 billion program to build up to 12 French-designed submarines, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported earlier.
A spokesperson for French military shipbuilder Naval Group declined to comment.
Reports that the submarine deal would be scrapped came as a surprise to the French company, according to a person familiar with the matter. Naval Group had met all its contractual obligations to date, from pricing to timelines to pledges for local production in Australia, the person said. It had expected commitments over 50 years under its contracts and would intend to negotiate a breakup fee as a result.
The White House views the security pact as binding Australia to the U.S. and U.K. for generations and pointed out that it comes during the 70th anniversary of the Australia-New Zealand-U.S. Security Treaty, ANZUS.
The new alignment is seen as a rare, one-off engagement, meaning there’s no plan for additional countries to join the framework, a U.S. official said.
Biden had a telephone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week to complain about Beijing’s lack of engagement on bilateral and global issues such as climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Biden proposed an in-person meeting with Xi but the Chinese president declined to commit to one. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said there are ongoing discussions “about what the next steps should be about engagement on the leader-to-leader level.”
Biden mentioned the trilateral plan in his conversation with Xi, though he didn’t share specifics, one official said. The Biden administration will explain the intentions behind the pact — which the countries are calling AUUKUS — to countries that are interested, the official added.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
