March 19, 2023/Agencies
The Australian government on Sunday denied any commitment to the United States, one of its main security allies, joining a hypothetical conflict on the island of Taiwan, which China claims as its own.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister, Richard Marles, once again defended Australia’s sovereignty in defense matters, questioned following the announcement of the acquisition of nuclear submarines within the framework of the AUKUS security pact, which these two countries make up. along with the UK.
Asked on the Insiders program, on the public channel ABC, about whether the AUKUS has more commitments for Canberra, including a pact for the defense of Taiwan, considered a rebel province by Beijing, the minister stressed that “absolutely not.”
“The answer to that is, of course not. Of course not. And it was not sought either (…) I heard that conjecture from several commentators. It’s completely wrong. It couldn’t be more unequivocal than that,” Marles said.
The minister assured that the acquisition of nuclear submarines, announced Monday in the United States by the leaders of the three countries of the AUKUS (Acronym for the English acronym of the three nations), is aimed at reforming the country’s military capacity, which is By 2030, it will become the seventh in the world to own nuclear submersibles.
The purchase of three US Virginia-class nuclear submarines, with the possibility of acquiring two more, and the construction of two more atomic submersibles in Australia and the United Kingdom, will cost the ocean nation up to A$368 billion ($246 billion). Americans) in 30 years, according to official estimates.
The AUKUS, signed by Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom in September 2021, was created as a counterweight to Beijing’s growing influence in the strategic Indo-Pacific region, the scene of several tensions in the South China Sea and in Taiwan, among other hot spots.
China has criticized the pact and the sale of nuclear submarines, assuring that it puts “regional peace and stability” at risk and “will only fuel an arms race.”
