China and Russia on Tuesday lambasted the spectacular program of cooperation in nuclear submarines launched the day before by the United States, Australia and Great Britain.
China has denounced a “wrong and dangerous path”, violating the objectives of the Non-Proliferation Treaty with “a serious risk of nuclear proliferation”. Russia accused the “Anglo-Saxons” of orchestrating “years of confrontation” in Asia.
Anxious to stand up to China in the Pacific, Washington, London and Canberra launched their alliance called AUKUS on Monday – announced 18 months ago to the chagrin of Paris, which saw its own submarines ousted. They will join forces to build a new generation of nuclear submarines in Australia, after Canberra’s planned purchase of several devices.
This attack submarine program aims to reshape the Western military presence in the Pacific, at a time when China is asserting its ambitions there.
“These three countries are increasingly embarking on a wrong and dangerous path, for the benefit of their sole geopolitical interests and in total disregard of the concerns of the international community”, castigated a spokesman for Chinese diplomacy before the press. , Wang Wenbin.
“Typical of the Cold War”
Accusing the three Western countries of inciting an arms race, with an alliance embodying “a typical Cold War way of thinking”, he added that the sale of the submarines “poses a serious risk of nuclear proliferation and will contrary to the aims and objectives of the Non-Proliferation Treaty”.
“The Anglo-Saxon world is building block structures like AUKUS, advancing the NATO infrastructure in Asia, and seriously betting on long years of confrontation,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) must ensure “that no risk of proliferation emanates from the project”, warned its director general Rafael Grossi.
Monday, from a naval base in San Diego, US President Joe Biden announced “unprecedented” cooperation, surrounded by Australian Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
With a “crucial” principle, he hammered out: “these submarines will be nuclear-powered, but will not carry nuclear weapons”, to respect the principle of non-proliferation.
“We are putting ourselves in the best position to face the challenges of today and tomorrow together,” Biden said. He had implicitly referred to China when he said that the AUKUS alliance should ensure that “the Indo-Pacific area remains free and open”. A formula which in American diplomatic jargon designates the desire to counter Chinese influence in the region.
Mr Albanese pointed out that Australia is making “the biggest investment” in defense in its history. According to Canberra, this multi-decade project will cost nearly $40 billion over the first ten years and will generate around 20,000 jobs.
Australia is, after Great Britain, the second country to have access to the nuclear secrets of the American navy, insisted Mr. Albanese.
“For generations”
Rishi Sunak also touted efforts to boost its UK defense budget as it embarks on “the most important multilateral defense deal in generations”.
The attack submarine program, which aims to reshape the Western military presence in the Pacific, will be divided into three phases, detailed the White House.
First there will be a familiarization phase with Australia — which has no nuclear-powered submarines or military or civilian nuclear technology.
Its sailors, engineers and technicians will be trained with American and British crews, as well as in American and British shipyards and specialized schools.
The objective is to deploy, from 2027 and on a principle of rotation, four American submarines and a British submarine on the Australian base in Perth.
In a second step, subject to the green light of the American Congress, Australia will buy three American nuclear-powered submarines of the Virginia class, with an option on two additional ones. They must be delivered from 2030.
SSN AUKUS
In the third and most ambitious stage of the program, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom will join forces for a new generation of attack submarines dubbed SSN AUKUS.
This will involve a gigantic industrial effort, especially for Australia, which must have a new shipyard in Adelaide.
The new ships, of British design and incorporating advanced American technologies, will be built and deployed by the United Kingdom and Australia.
They are to be delivered from the late 2030s and early 2040s.
Australia will build a high-tech nuclear manufacturing industry from scratch, says David Andrews, a military strategy analyst at the ANU.
“There are risks in the way of administering personnel, building production lines, managing supplies and maintenance,” he told AFP. “We currently don’t have a lot of capacity to train people like nuclear physicists or engineers and other specialties that we will need to operate these submarines.”
Nuclear-powered submarines are difficult to detect, can travel great distances for long periods of time, and carry sophisticated cruise missiles.