Australians say 'AUKUS deal good for Washington, not for us'

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
14 Mar 2023 18:56
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Thoughtful Australians believe that AUKUS nuclear submarine deal has a lot of loopholes that prompt proliferation fears from its repercussions on Sydney.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, US President Joe Biden, and Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at Point Loma naval base in San Diego, US, on Monday (AP)

The scheme allowing nuclear materials in Australian submarines worried thoughtful Australians who believe that the “inevitability of war” with Sydney's principal trading partner, China, is fuelled by US-led propaganda, and it only benefits Washington's familiar ambitions, not Australia's, Stephanie Dowrick stated.

More than a year after the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia revealed their secret plan to combine submarine forces, the three countries published additional details Monday of their ambitious strategy to oppose what they call "China's rapid military expansion."

The allies will create a joint fleet of elite nuclear-powered submarines, financed by all three countries under the multi-decade AUKUS agreement, producing a more formidable force in the Indo-Pacific than any of them could achieve alone.

The plan posed questions for many top Australian figures who share Dowrick's stance that "there is every reason for Australia to be a leader in our region of peace achieved through education, health, and trade, and also via cooperative, innovative climate action. We had the choice to be a non-partisan force for good. Why are we not taking it?," as per a report by The Sunday Morning Herald.

"What would Australians do with eight redundant submarines?"

On his account, Stephen Gee from Strathfield believed that Scott Morrison backed the deal to win another election, stressing that "Australia is stuck with this poison chalice."

"Giving a blank cheque to the United States, forfeiting our independence, and buying WW2 ideology that will easily be located with underwater drones. The ultimate twist of the knife is that we paid all that money to France which offers nuclear-powered submarines off the shelf," he added.

It is worth noting that Scott Morrison served as the 30th Prime Minister of Australia and leader of the Liberal Party of Australia from 2018 to 2022. He is presently the Member of Parliament for the New South Wales seat of Cook, a position he has held since 2007.

Barry Laing from Castle Cove stated that the subs deal is sealed at what he described as an “eye-watering cost”, cautioning that Australia doesn’t even have “a power grid that serves its needs in the renewable transition, nor an infrastructure plan for flooding due to climate change.”

He further outlined that the main threat to Australia's future (climate change) gets a few billion, meanwhile, submarines get a mountain of gold over the period of 20 years.

Brian Haisman from Winmalee sarcastically posed a question: "Wouldn’t it be funny if China suddenly says in relation to Taiwan, “Oh, stuff it. Go your own way. We no longer care.” What would we do with eight redundant submarines? Turn them into cruise ships?"

Lavrov warns AUKUS may cause long regional confrontation

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, on Tuesday, the Australia-United Kingdom-United States (AUKUS) trilateral security pact paves the way for a long confrontation with the regional countries for many years.

Lavrov made his remarks at the opening of the founding congress of the International Movement of Russophiles.

"The Anglo-Saxon world with the creation of bloc structures like AUKUS, with the promotion of NATO military infrastructure in Asia, is making a serious bid for confrontation for many years, because I cannot imagine how the great Asian civilizations will simply be taken under control, as, unfortunately, was the European Union, and will obediently carry out the plans of Washington and our other Anglo-Saxon colleagues," Lavrov said.

On its account, China has constantly warned that AUKUS risked setting off an arms race and accused the three countries of setting back nuclear nonproliferation efforts.

"We urge the US, the UK and Australia to abandon the Cold War mentality and zero-sum games, honor international obligations in good faith and do more things that are conducive to regional peace and stability," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning told journalists in Beijing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping made a statement last week accusing the United States of leading a Western effort at "all-round containment, encirclement and suppression of China."

It is worth noting that Chinese Australian relations have been in a downward spiral for several years due to the UK's aggressive policy toward Beijing, most notably on China's internal matters in Hong Kong and Taiwan.