Foto: AP/Scanpix/LETA
13:35, September 17, 2021
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Valdis Bērziņš, “Latvijas Avīze”, JSC “Latvijas Mediji”
US President Joe Biden has announced that the United States, Britain and Australia have concluded a defense agreement (AUKUS) that provides for cooperation in the operation of nuclear water and defense technologies.
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It is planned to set up a working group of three countries to share experience in the development of modern defense technologies. Analysts believe the three-nation agreement, called AUKUS (Australia, United Kingdom, United States), is an attempt to counterbalance China’s growing influence in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
The AUKUS agreement provides for a wide exchange of information and technology in the field of artificial intelligence, cyber technologies, quantum electronics and underwater systems.
Speaking in a video conference between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, US President Joe Biden said that “tripartite cooperation will help avert today’s and tomorrow’s threats.”
“We need to take our partnership to a new level,” Morrison added. “We’re adding a new chapter to our friendship,” Johnson said.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Ledria has expressed dissatisfaction with Australia’s decision to buy US nuclear submarines.
He accused US President Joe Biden of acting in the same way as his predecessor, Donald Trump, in forcing France out of a submarine supply deal with Australia.
The AUKUS agreement will help Australia acquire US nuclear submarines by canceling a potential deal with France for the sale of conventional submarines.
“This brutal, one-sided and unpredictable decision reminds me very much of what Trump did in the past,” Ledria said. “It undermines confidence and I am extremely angry,” the minister said.
In 2016, Australia selected the French company Naval Group, from which it intended to order new submarines. Just two weeks ago, Australian defense and foreign ministers confirmed to their French counterparts that the idea was still valid.
The deal, which was worth around A $ 50 billion (€ 31 billion), was delayed for several years.
Negotiations have slowed down various issues, including Australia’s claim that most production takes place locally and also the majority of components are produced in Australia.
A spokesman for the French company Naval Group has expressed “great disappointment” over the Australian decision.
The conclusion of a potential Australian deal with the company for the construction of 12 Attack-class submarines had been delayed for several years as the deal became more expensive and Australia actively sought alternatives.
A U.S. official who wanted to remain anonymous said the AUKUS strategic partnership in the India-Pacific region was a “historic new phenomenon” with Washington focusing on the region, where China is challenging US leadership and naval dominance.
AUKUS ‘first initiative will be to “support Australia’s desire to acquire nuclear submarines,” the official said, stressing that this did not mean nuclear weapons.
“Australia does not and will not seek nuclear weapons. This is a submarine powered by nuclear energy. “
Until now, the United States had shared nuclear technology only with Britain. Australia does not currently have nuclear material that could be used for a submarine nuclear engine, so it needs to start negotiations with the United States, Reuters notes.
In 2010, Washington and Canberra signed an agreement pledging not to enrich or reprocess the nuclear material it received from the United States. Australia is not trying to acquire nuclear weapons, Morrison and Biden stressed.
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