Australia, US, Britain leaders to meet, submarine deal expected

Sydney, March 8 (AFP/APP): The leaders of the United States, Britain and Australia will meet in the United States next week to discuss security and foreign policy, the British Prime Minister’s office announced on Wednesday, ahead of an expected nuclear submarine deal aimed at countering China’s growing influence in the Pacific.

After 18 months of negotiations, it is anticipated that Australia will reveal plans to obtain eight nuclear-powered submarines, in what Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called “the single biggest leap” in defence capability in his country’s history.

The deal is part of the fledgling regional security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States known as AUKUS.

“The prime minister will be in the US on Monday for discussions on AUKUS with President Biden and the Australian Prime Minister,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman told reporters.

The UK government will also that day publish an update to its so-called “Integrated Review” of security, defence and foreign policy, he added.

The last update two years ago was billed as the most comprehensive since the Cold War era and crafted as London recalibrated its post-Brexit foreign policy.

London has insisted the new defence alliance is not intended to be adversarial towards any other nation. But it has been widely seen as a Western response to concern about China’s increasing influence in the region, and the pace and size of Beijing’s military expansion.

Since September 2021, behind-the-scenes talks have been taking place between the AUKUS partners about how to equip Australia’s military with sensitive nuclear-propulsion technology.

Australia does not have the expertise to build its own nuclear subs — which have an extended range and powerful strike capabilities — and must buy them from either the United States or Britain.

Earlier on Wednesday, Albanese announced he would be meeting President Joe Biden in the United States, without specifying an exact date.

“We’ll have further announcements about details soon about the arrangements that will be taking place,” he told reporters in Perth.

The emerging deal has worried some of Australia’s largest regional allies, with both Indonesia and Malaysia questioning whether it could spark a nuclear arms race in the Indo-Pacific.

While the subs will be powered by a nuclear reactor, Australia has ruled out equipping them with nuclear weapons.

The submarine contract is expected to be worth tens of billions of US dollars, but experts say its significance goes beyond jobs created and investments pledged.