How AUKUS submarine deal was sealed in Cornwall: Australian PM Scott Morrison asked Biden for secret US nuclear tech to take on China at G7 after first getting Boris onboard - then ditched 'rip off' $90bn French contract
- Scott Morrison agreed deal to acquire nuclear submarine technology from US and UK at Cornwall G7 summit
- Three leaders met on the sidelines during summit's last day when they put pen to paper on AUKUS pact
- Australia will now get hold of at least eight nuclear submarines, counter-balancing China's growing power
- Alliance will also share other military technologies in one of the most significant deals signed in decades
This is the moment that Australia, the UK and the US put pen to paper on their new military alliance as Scott Morrison, Joe Biden and Boris Johnson met on the sidelines of June's G7 summit in Cornwall.
It was the culmination of an 18-month plan devised by Mr Morrison to acquire his country's first nuclear-powered submarines, allowing Australia to push back against an increasingly aggressive China.
The plot is thought to have been hatched in early 2020 when Mr Morrison asked a team of scientists, Navy top brass, engineers and other experts to look again at a deal Australia had signed with with France to buy 12 diesel-powered subs and to see whether better options existed.
Ultimately, the task force concluded that going nuclear - an option that Australia has long-resisted because it lacks a domestic nuclear industry and is committed to nuclear non-proliferation - would be a better option than paying France $90billion for its vessels, after the cost ballooned from the $50billion they first agreed on.
In late 2020, Mr Morrison instructed his defence chiefs to begin 'engaging the systems' by briefing the UK and the US on his plans, according to a source who spoke with the Sydney Morning Herald, leading to a conversation with Boris Johnson in May this year.
Mr Johnson agreed to set up talks with Joe Biden at the G7 a few weeks later, with the trio finally meeting on June 13 - the final day of the summit. It was during this meeting that Biden agreed for the first time in more than 50 years to share the secrets of America's nuclear submarines with a third country. Britain is the only other nation to have acquired such technology.
Australia is now set to get its hands on at least eight nuclear-powered submarines which will likely cost less than the $7.5billion-per vessel that France was offering. While the exact design and costs of Australia's subs have yet to be revealed, US Virginia-class nuclear subs cost around $4.5bn each and UK Astute-class $2.6bn each.
Scott Morrison meeting with Boris Johnson and Joe Biden at the G7 summit in Cornwall back in June, where the trio put pen to paper on a new military alliance that will give Australia its first nuclear-powered submarines
The meeting was the culmination of an 18-month plan to acquire the technology by Mr Morrison (left), who first pitched the idea to Boris Johnson (right, with wife Carrie Symonds) before arranging a three-way sit-down with Biden
Australia is now set to acquire at least eight nuclear-powered submarines to present a counter-balance to Beijing's growing navy, and will also be sharing other advanced military technologies with Washington and London
The pact does not make the design of Australia's new submarines clear, but they will be based on previous US and UK designs. Pictured above is a cross-section of Britain's Astute-class nuclear attack subs, which is likely to mirror the new vessels
The alliance will also be sharing technologies on cyber defence, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, long-rage missiles and 'additional undersea capabilities' such as sensors and drones.
Mr Morrison has said he will spend the next 18 months developing the capacity to safely handle nuclear technology, though has not given a timetable for constructing the subs or when he first one will come online.
He did say that the subs will be built in Adelaide - at least partly - resolving a row that broke out with France about where some of the construction jobs would be located.
The deal could also avoid the politically-difficult issue of Australia having to develop a domestic nuclear industry to support the subs by relying instead on the UK and US - both of whom have such industries.
However, Mr Morrison did not give explicit guarantees on domestic nuclear production - only saying that Australia will not be acquiring nuclear weapons.
France has reacted angrily to the news, which will mean its own deal is now defunct with only $2billion received. Foreign minister Yves Le-Drian called it a 'stab in the back', likening Biden's behaviour to Trump.
Beijing also condemned the news, with foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian denouncing 'Cold War zero-sum thinking' which he said 'seriously undermines regional peace and stability and intensifies the arms race.'
'The export of highly sensitive nuclear submarine technology by the United States and Britain to Australia once again proves that they use nuclear exports as a tool of geopolitical games and adopt double standards, which is extremely irresponsible,' Zhao added.
But Taiwan and Japan reacted joyfully, saying it is necessary to provide 'security' for the South China Sea region.
Taiwan - which considers itself to be an independent nation but is viewed by Beijing as a self-governing Chinese province - fears invasion from the mainland after Xi Jinping committed himself to 'reunifying' the island in a 2019 speech, saying he reserves the right to use force if necessary.
The UK and US have already been conducting increased freedom of navigation patrols through the Strait of Taiwan and around the Spratly and Paracel Islands - which contain Chinese military bases - and the addition of at least eight nuclear submarines to Australia's fleet will bolster these efforts.
The pact also side-lines New Zealand, led by left-wing Jacninda Arden, who was left out after adopting a set of increasingly soft China stances in recent years. She has now vowed to ban the new Australian submarines from its waters under her country's long-standing anti-nuclear policies.
China has inflamed tensions in the South China Sea in recent years by expanding its claimed territory, to the objection of its neighbors in the Asia-Pacific
Britain and America are to help Australia build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines as part of an unprecedented alliance known as AUKUS to combat China (pictured, a British Astute-class nuclear sub which is likely to mirror the Australian design)
Jacinda Ardern will to BAN Australia's new nuclear-powered submarines from New Zealand waters
Australia's new nuclear submarine fleet won't be welcome in New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has warned.
The new submarines are the centrepiece of a new security deal - known as AUKUS - agreed to by Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom and announced on Thursday morning.
New Zealand has been left out of the alliance, despite being a member of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network, along with AUKUS members and Canada.
The Kiwi leader said the formation of AUKUS 'in no way changes our security and intelligence ties with these three countries'.
'We welcome the increased engagement of the UK and US in the region and reiterate our collective objective needs to be the delivery of peace and stability and the preservation of the international rules based system,' she said.
Ms Ardern was briefed on the alliance by Scott Morrison on Wednesday night.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has warned Australia's new nuclear submarine fleet won't be welcome in New Zealand
On Thursday morning, she made clear the submarines would not be welcome in New Zealand's waters, in line with a long-held policy.
New Zealand has been staunchly nuclear-free for decades, earning the ire of the United States by declining visits from nuclear-powered ships.
'New Zealand is first and foremost a nation of the Pacific and we view foreign policy developments through the lens of what is in the best interest of the region,' she said.
'New Zealand's position in relation to the prohibition of nuclear powered vessels in our waters remains unchanged.'
New Zealand's opposition has rung the alarm over the deal, saying they've been cut out of the new defence pact.
'It's disappointing that after many years of New Zealand's co-operation with our traditional allies, the current Government appears to have been unable to participate in discussions for 'AUKUS',' opposition National leader Judith Collins said.
'New Zealand's strong nuclear-free stance shouldn't have been a barrier to us joining such a partnership. We could have been carved out of the nuclear aspect of the partnership,' Ms Collins says.
The deal also side-lines and Canada - who together with the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand makes up the Cold War-era Five Eyes intelligence alliance. While AUKUS is not a straight replacement for Five Eyes, it is almost certain to reduce its importance.
Eric Miller, a political and business consultant specializing in Canada-U.S. affairs, told The Globe and Mail that the agreement represents an alliance between countries more willing than Canada to take on China.
Canada is thought to have angered Washington after refusing to ban Chinese firm Huawei from incorporating its technology into the country's 5G network - something America believes will leave it vulnerable to Beijing's spies.
'Those who are in the world of "we need to directly confront China, and use all of our assets and resources to do that," – they are essentially moving forward,' he said.
Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not immediately react to the deal, suggesting he may also have been left out of the loop - though his Defence Department insisted it had been informed before the announcement was made while stressing the continued importance of Five Eyes.
China's President Xi Jinping currently controls the world's largest Navy, when measured purely by the number of vessels - comprising 250 combat vehicles, including large numbers of corvettes and subs.
He is using the fleet to lay claim to the entire South China Sea - something the West and its allies hotly dispute - while also menacing Taiwan.
Western nations have been pushing back, sailing so-called 'freedom of navigation' missions through the region to test Xi's resolve - with a recent and high-profile mission sailed by Britain's £3bn HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier and her 'strike group', comprised of British and American destroyers alongside support vessels.
The US possesses what is widely regarded as the world's most-powerful navy which includes a huge fleet of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
Giving Australia nuclear submarines is a significant development because the vessels need to refuel far less-often than traditional subs, allowing them to stay submerged longer and roam further - sailing undetected into waters which Beijing is trying to claim.
Chinese state media has threatened to carry out 'freedom of navigation' operations of its own, with regime mouthpiece Global Times publishing an editorial on Wednesday threatening that warships will 'soon' turn up off the coasts of Hawaii and Guam - where the US has large military bases.
'Hopefully when Chinese warships pass through the Caribbean Sea or show up near Hawaii and Guam one day, the US will uphold the same standard of freedom of navigation,' the article said. 'That day will come soon.'
Under the terms of the new pact, the UK, US and Australia will spend the next 18 months working to construct a framework that will allow Australia to safely take command of a nuclear-powered fleet and other sensitive technologies.
The submarines will then be constructed in South Australia, making use of facilities already in place that were supposed to be used for the now-cancelled French submarines.
The UK's Rolls-Royce plant near Derby and BAE Systems in Barrow-in-Furness are also expected to be involved in the design and build of the submarines, creating hundreds of highly-skilled scientific and engineering roles in Britain.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has hailed the announcement, saying it will increase security in the Indo-Pacific region, strengthen ties with two of Britain's oldest allies, and cement Britain as a technological and scientific superpower while helping to reduce the costs of its own future military projects.
The deal does not make it clear exactly what type of submarines Australia will eventually receive, or what technology will be incorporated in them.
Nevertheless, it marks the first time in 50 years that the US has shared its submarine technology, and Australia will be only the second country to receive it - after the UK.
Australia will join an elite group of nations operating nuclear-powered subs that includes France, China, India and Russia. The deal will not give Australia nuclear weapons, as the country has a long-standing commitment not to develop them.
Australia already has diesel-electric submarines but the new stealthier fleet will be faster, able to carry more, and can stay underwater for longer - covering greater distances without expelling traceable exhaust gases.
The new submarines, built using UK and US components, will 'protect and defend our shared interests in the Indo- Pacific', Downing Street said.
Britain will also share its cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and undersea systems with allies as part of the deal, ushering in a new era of collaboration on security and defence-related science, technology, industrial bases and supply chains.
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison (C) and US President Joe Biden attend a joint press conference to announce the AUKUS partnership last night
China has been rapidly expanding its naval capabilities in recent years, and now has two aircraft carriers which it is using to assert its claim over the South China Sea (pictured, Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning patrols with its support vessels)
China has transformed several uninhabited islands in the South China Sea into military bases and has begun warning ships away from them, including threatening rival naval vessels
China already has a substantial number of nuclear-powered submarines. The Pentagon assessed in its 2020 China Military Power report that China has the largest navy in the world, with an overall battle force of approximately 350 ships and submarines, including more than 130 major surface vessels.
China was not mentioned in the cross-continental briefing but there was frequent reference to the changing situation in the region.
Tom Tugendhat, Conservative chairman of the Commons Foreign Committee, said: 'The reason for all this is clear - China.'
He tweeted: 'After years of bullying and trade hostility, and watching regional neighbours like the Philippines see encroachment into their waters, Australia didn't have a choice.'
China's U.S. embassy reacted by saying that countries 'should not build exclusionary blocs targeting or harming the interests of third parties.'
'In particular, they should shake off their Cold-War mentality and ideological prejudice,' it said.
Australia's plea for help to replace its ageing Collins-class subs prompted the new deal agreed by Mr Johnson, US President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
The last time Britain and the US formally agreed collaborate on nuclear technology to build submarines was in 1958. Although Britain has operated nuclear-powered subs for over 60 years, Canberra has never built its own.
Australia is seen as essential to counter China's regional influence, especially in the contested South China Sea.
In recent years, the UK and Australia have increasingly worked together on defence, with joint training exercises.
Last night Mr Johnson said: 'The UK, Australia and US are natural allies.
'While we may be separated geographically, our interests and values are shared. The AUKUS alliance will bring us closer than ever, creating a new defence partnership and driving jobs and prosperity.'
As part of a joint statement with the other two leaders, Mr Johnson added: 'The endeavour we launch today will help sustain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
'For more than 70 years, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, have worked together, along with other important allies and partners, to protect our shared values and promote security and prosperity.
'Today, with the formation of AUKUS, we recommit ourselves to this vision.'
'We all recognize the imperative of ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific over the long term,' Biden said Wednesday from the East Room of the White House.
'We need to be able to address both the current strategic environment in the region and how it may evolve because the future of each of our nations, and indeed the world, depends on a free and open Indo-Pacific, enduring and flourishing in the decades ahead.'
The three countries already share extensive intelligence through the Five Eyes alliance, which also involves Canada and New Zealand.
It is not known when the vessels will be ready, but officials said the initial scoping phase is expected to take 18 months when it will be determined where they will be built and by whom.
Mr Johnson said Scotland and parts of the north of England and the Midlands would feel the benefit of the work on the nuclear-powered submarines, with the Government keen to exploit the Royal Navy's decades-worth of knowledge of using such machines.
At a later press conference in Canberra, Mr Morrison said it was undecided if Australia would purchase British-built BAE Systems Astute class submarines or the Virginia class vessels constructed in the US.
French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and armed forces minister Florence Parly said in a statement issued by the country's embassy in Canberra that it had taken note of Australia's decision to halt the Future Submarine programme with France.
'This decision is contrary to the letter and spirit of the cooperation that prevailed between France and Australia, based on a relationship of political trust and on the development of a very high-level defence industrial & technological base in Australia,' the statement added.
A man waves a Union flag as the British Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth sails out of Tokyo bay on September 8, on the final leg of a journey that has inflamed tensions with China
'The world is a jungle,' ex-ambassador to the US Gerard Araud tweeted on Thursday morning
Earlier this year, in the integrated review of security and foreign policy, the UK Government outlined plans for a 'tilt' in focus to the Indo-Pacific.
Aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth was earlier this year deployed on a voyage East in a decision said to be about sending a message to Beijing and Russia about Britain's military might.
The Indo-Pacific area is of particular concern due to increasing geopolitical tensions such as unresolved territorial disputes and the risk of nuclear proliferation.
France has been 'stabbed in the back' by the Australian nuclear submarine deal, a former top diplomatic official has said.
'The world is a jungle,' ex-ambassador to the US Gerard Araud tweeted on Thursday.
'France has just been reminded this bitter truth by the way the US and the UK have stabbed her in the back in Australia. C'est la vie.'
Australia has for years been planning to build a fleet of 12 diesel-powered submarines in Adelaide via French company Naval Group, with a deal made in 2016 valued at $90billion.
The French government later on Thursday said Australia's decision to ditch the agreement was 'contrary to the spirit of cooperation which prevailed' between the two countries.
Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly said the change in plan 'marks an absence of coherence that France can only observe and regret'.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison reportedly held concerns Naval Group would be unable to deliver submarines until 2030 with deadline and price disputes.
Defence officials have openly discussed abandoning the deal since June and told a Senate estimates hearing in June there were 'challenges' with the agreement.
Australia will instead embrace nuclear power after decades of debate - marking the first time the US and UK have shared their nuclear submarine technology with another nation.
China threatens to sail its navy into Hawaiian waters as US and Australia announce defence pact - days after flotilla sailed past Alaska
China today threatened to send its Navy into Hawaiian waters in the latest round of sabre rattling in the Pacific after Australia, the US and Britain announced a new naval alliance in the region.
Four Chinese vessels have already been spotted sailing off the coast of Alaska this week in a display of naval power amid increasing tensions as a global nuclear submarine pact was signed to take on Beijing.
A Chinese guided-missile cruiser, guided-missile destroyer, general intelligence vessel, and an auxiliary vessel were spotted off the coast of Alaska's Aleutian Islands during surveillance operations in the Bering Sea.
The Chinese flotilla sailed 42 miles off the coast of the Aleutian Islands near the coast of Alasksa
The provocation came as China's state-run newspaper threatened to send warships to Hawaii and Guam in response to US moves in the South China Sea.
The Global Times' editor-in-chief, Hu Xijin, tweeted: 'Hopefully when Chinese warships pass through the Caribbean Sea or show up near Hawaii and Guam one day, the US will uphold the same standard of freedom of navigation. That day will come soon.'
The US Navy responded to the tweet, saying they have 'upheld the standards of freedom of navigation longer than the PLA navy has existed'.
They also pointed out that Chinese spy ships have frequently sailed past Hawaii and Guam in recent years.
They said: 'The US Navy sails around the world in accordance with international law.
'All countries benefit from freedom of navigation in accordance with international law.
'Unfortunately, not all who benefit from freedom of navigation would extend that same freedom to others.'
While the Chinese ships that sailed in the Bering Sea near Alaska were close to US waters, they followed international laws, US officials said.
The four warships, believed to include the 055 Nanchang destroyer were shadowed by the US Coast Guard cutters Bertholf and Kimball, which were shown in a series of images released on Monday of the incident.
Four Chinese vessels have sailed off the coast of Alaska in a display of naval power amid increasing tensions
North Korea reveals TRAIN-based missile system that fired two nuclear-capable missiles towards Japan this week
North Korea has unveiled a new train-based missile system which it used to fire missiles at test targets close to Japan on Wednesday.
The missiles were launched from a new 'railway-borne missile system' designed as a potential counter-strike to any forces that threaten the country, state news agency KCNA reported on Thursday.
The missiles flew 497 miles before striking a target in the sea of Japan off North Korea's east coast, KCNA said.
South Korean and Japanese authorities were alerted to the test launch which came just days after North Korea tested another nuclear-capable cruise missile this past weekend.
North Korea has unveiled a new train-based missile system which it used to fire missiles at test targets close to Japan on Wednesday
The missiles flew 497 miles before striking a target in the sea off North Korea's east coast, KCNA said
South Korean and Japanese authorities were alerted to the test launch which came just days after North Korea tested another nuclear-capable cruise missile this past weekend
Meanwhile, on the same day as North Korea tested its train-based launch system, South Korea in kind tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), and in doing so became the first country without nuclear weapons to develop such a system.
The two Koreas have been in an increasingly heated arms race, with both sides unveiling more capable missiles and other weapons, but South Korea does not possess nuclear capabilities.
The tests by nuclear-armed North Korea drew international condemnation and concern, however, with the United States saying they violated UN Security Council resolutions and posed a threat to Pyongyang's neighbours.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga strongly condemned the test which came just days after North Korea launched a nuclear-capable missile last weekend, while Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato called the missiles 'a serious threat to the peace and safety of Japan and its surrounding areas'.
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2021-09-16 15:29:20Z
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