Part 4 of 4 Parts (Please read Parts 1, 2 and 3 first)
A U.S. official said that the AUSUK partnership was the result of months of negotiations by military and political leaders in the U.K who had indicated that it wanted to do more in southeast Asia.
Following the announcement of the formation of AUSUK, France said that the treaty was brutal and unpredictable. The new trilateral partnership ended Australia’s sixty-billion-dollar deal with France for the construction of a fleet of conventional submarines to replace Australia’s aging submarine fleet. France accused U.S. President Biden of acting like his predecessor Donald Trump and said that Biden had stabbed France in the back.
Jean-Yves Le Drian is a French politician serving as Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs. He has held this position since 2017. He said on French radio that “This brutal, unilateral and unpredictable decision reminds me a lot of what Mr. Trump used to do. I am angry and bitter. This isn't done between allies.”
Jacinda Ardern is the Prime Minister of New Zealand. She said that she welcomed the focus on the Indo-Pacific but also said that Australian nuclear-powered submarines would not be allowed in New Zealand territorial waters.
Singapore issued a statement that said it had long had relations with Australia, the U.K, and the U.S. and hoped that their interaction would continue to contribute to peace and stability in the region.
Japan said that Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. partnership would contribute to the strengthening of security and defense which was important for stability in southeast Asia.
Joseph Borrell is the European Union’s (EU) foreign policy chief. He said that the EU was not consulted on the formation of the new AUKUS partnership. He went on to say that it was obvious that EU foreign policy need to more assertive.
Borrell added that “We must survive on our own, as others do. I understand the extent to which the French government must be disappointed.”
President Biden said that the three governments would launch an eighteen-month consultation period “to determine every element of this program, from workforce, to training requirements, to production timelines”. He said the consultation was needed to ensure full compliance with all non-proliferation commitments.
Among the U.S. companies that could benefit from the new AUKUS partnership are General Dynamics Corporation and Huntington Ingalls Industries.
General Dynamics Electric Boat business carries out a great deal of the design work on U.S. submarines. Critical subsystems such as electronics and nuclear power plants are made by BWX Technologies.
U.S. officials have not given any time frame for when Australia would deploy their new nuclear submarines. There has also been no public statement with respect to how many of the new submarines will be constructed. A U.S. official said that the U.S. had shared nuclear propulsion technology only once before. This happened in 1958 with the U.K. The official said that “This is frankly an exception to our policy in many respects... We view this as a one-off.”