MENA WATCH: BIDEN CANELS BRUSSELS EU / U.S., UK to Help Australia Acquire Nuclear-Powered Submarines

Heralding the beginning of a new security alliance, the leaders of Australia, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States jointly announced (Nikkei) that Washington and London will help Canberra build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines and acquire other advanced technologies.

The partnership, dubbed AUKUS, is a major boost to Australia’s military capabilities (NYT) in the Indo-Pacific. It drew pushback from China (SCMP), which called for the countries to “shake off their Cold War mentality,” and from France, which had been in talks with Australia about providing it with submarines. The European Union (EU) is set to publish (Reuters) its Indo-Pacific strategy today.

Analysis
“Australia cannot have this capability while assuming that it does not come with heightened expectations that Australia will take America’s side in any dispute with China,” the Lowy Institute’s Sam Roggeveen writes for the Interpreter.

“Instead of inviting the U.K. into the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, which comprises the U.S., Japan, India and Australia, the [Joe] Biden administration chose to form a new grouping with perhaps more flexibility to expand defense cooperation by excluding Japan, which has constitutional restraints, and India, which has a policy of strategic autonomy,” Nikkei’s Ken Moriyasu writes.