The United States of America (USA), United Kingdom (UK), and Australia on Thursday announced a new alliance named AUKUS (an acronym for "Australia, United Kingdom, United States") under which the two Anglo countries will help Australia deploy nuclear-powered submarines in the Pacific region. The AUKUS will primarily focus on empowering Australia’s military strength, with the UK and the US already planning to provide nuclear submarines to Canberra. Although not explicitly mentioned, the move has come amidst China’s growing influence all over the world, especially in the South China Sea. Even Beijing has noted the development and decided not to ignore it as the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said it "seriously undermines regional peace and stability and intensifies the arms race,” while, China's embassy in Washington accused the countries of a "Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice". Meanwhile, some US ally countries also frowned upon the formation of AUKUS, most notably France, since it hampered the deal between Paris and Canberra over the sale of 12 Attack submarines worth $90 billion. The French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has called it a “stab in the back”.
AUKUS alliance: 10 important points:
1. The first major initiative of AUKUS, would be to deliver a nuclear-powered submarine fleet for Australia, PM Morrison said. “Over the next 18 months, we will work together to seek to determine the best way forward to achieve this. This will include an intense examination of what we need to do to exercise our nuclear stewardship responsibilities here in Australia,” he said.
2. The nuclear-powered submarines will give Australia naval heft in the Pacific, where China has been particularly aggressive. While the US and Britain have had the capability for decades, Australia has never had a nuclear submarine.
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3. The pact will also focus on military capability, separating it from the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance which also includes New Zealand and Canada.
4. While Australia's submarines is the big-ticket item, AUKUS will also involve the sharing of cyber capabilities and other undersea technologies.
5. These submarines are much faster and harder to detect than conventionally powered fleets. They can stay submerged for months, shoot missiles longer distances and also carry more.
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6. The US is sharing its submarine technology for the first time in 50 years. It had previously only shared technology with the UK in 1958.
7. Australia will become just the seventh nation in the world to operate nuclear-powered submarines, after the US, UK, France, China, India and Russia.
8. However, Australia has reaffirmed it has no intention of obtaining nuclear weapons.
9. Its neighbour New Zealand, which has for long kept an anti-nuclear stance has said that it would ban Australia's submarines from its waters, in line with an existing policy on the presence of nuclear-powered submarines.
10. Unlike conventional submarines, which are generally considered helpful for defensive purposes, the ability of a nuclear-powered submarine to go long distances, at a higher speed, without being detected gives a nation the ability to protect its interests far from its shores.
