US, UK to compete over sale of nuclear submarines to Australia

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AUKUS heads of State are scheduled to meet next week to discuss the Australian bid to purchase nuclear-powered submarines.

Australia is set to choose whether to purchase British-made Astute-class nuclear-powered submarines or American-designed Virginia-class submarines.

According to the White House, all three leaders are scheduled to meet in San Diego, California, on Monday to discuss the deal and regional security matters. 

US President Joe Biden will hold bilateral talks with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

The bid has been ongoing for over 18 months and is specifically intended to address China's growing influence across the Pacific. 

PM Albanese said that this would mark "the single biggest leap" in Australia's defense capability. 

Read more: US to increase military presence in Australia, invites Japan

A spokesman for PM Sunak said that the British government would issue an updated version of its "Integrated Review" of security, defense, and foreign policy.

Although the UK has insisted that the  AUKUS is not intended to be adversarial, it has been widely regarded as a Western response to increasing concerns about China's growing military influence in the Pacific. 

"The AUKUS partnership seeks to provide a conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarine capability to Australia at the earliest possible date," a Pentagon source told AFP ahead of Albanese's announcement.

"Bolstering our deterrence means boosting all of our industrial bases, growing our collective capabilities, and sharing technology as never before," they added.

Talks about boosting Australia's military capabilities go back as far as 2021, including the provision of sensitive nuclear-propulsion technology. 

Due to the fact that Australia does not have the expertise to build its own nuclear-powered submarines, it has to buy them either from the US or the UK. But the deal has raised serious concerns for regional neighbors, including Indonesia and Malaysia, about the prospects of triggering a nuclear arms race. 

Despite the fact that the submarines will be powered by a nuclear reactor, Australia has chosen not to arm them with nuclear weapons. This kept observers skeptical that this decision could be reversed.

Sunak confident that Australia will choose UK-made subs

UK PM Rishi Sunak told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that he is optimistic about the sale of British-made submarines to Australia.

"The deal has definitely gone our way. The prime minister was buzzing about it when he told ministers, smiling and bouncing on the balls of his feet," a ministerial source is quoted as saying in The Guardian. 

Another source told the newspaper that they expect the sale of British-manufactured subs to be a success because it is easier to crew the smaller UK vessels. 

Australian Prime Minister will meet with President Biden and @RishiSunak in the US on Monday for #AUKUS summit 🇦🇺🇬🇧🇺🇸

Expect a detailed announcement on the strategy for procuring nuclear-powered submarines for Australiahttps://t.co/HFGKjyHfrF pic.twitter.com/5Nya3uGoKF

— Navy Lookout (@NavyLookout) March 8, 2023

Reactions from Beijing

Beijing rejected the deal, describing it as "dangerous" and a threat to regional security. 

Beijing and Canberra were once close economic partners, but in recent years they have clashed over matters such as AUKUS and the origins of the Covid-19 epidemic.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on February 1 that Beijing respected partnerships that were "consistent with the trend of peace and development" but said the AUKUS was designed to pose a strategic threat to China. 

"Despite being called a ‘trilateral security partnership’, AUKUS is essentially about fuelling military confrontation through military collaboration," the spokeswoman said.

"It is apparently driven by Cold War thinking. It creates additional nuclear proliferation risks, exacerbates arms race in the Asia-Pacific, and hurts regional peace and stability," she added, noting that "China is deeply concerned and firmly opposed to it."

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.

Read more: Beijing urges Tokyo to cast off 'Zero-Sum Game Trap'