AUKUS PACT
A trilateral security pact between Australia, the UK, and the USA, announced in 2021, to help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines and enhance “cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and additional undersea capabilities.”
Need/Importance
- Countering China: Enhances Australia’s military operability in the Indo-Pacific region.
- South China Sea: Addresses unchallenged Chinese dominance in the area.
- Australian Strategic Security: Australia’s location and export reliance on China make it vulnerable to Chinese influence.
- Multi-Sectoral Cooperation: AUKUS will also involve a new architecture of meetings and engagements between the three countries, as well as cooperation across emerging technologies.
- Balance of Power: AUKUS ensures a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific by countering China in the region.
Impact
- On Australia
- Strategic Security: Australia faces a growing threat from China’s rise in the Indo-Pacific region.
- Securing Neighbourhood: China’s influence extends into Australia’s neighboring islands, like Tuvalu, challenging Australia’s strategic presence.
- Security Arrangement: It empowers Australia to forge closer ties with the US and UK.
- Nuclear Security: Australia joins an elite group of six countries with nuclear-powered submarines, and the only one without a civilian nuclear power industry.
- Employment: Technology transfer will create skilled and unskilled job opportunities in Australia, the UK, and the US.
- On India
- Technology Transfer: AUKUS sets a precedent for India to acquire critical nuclear reactor technology, possibly from France.
- Strategic Cooperation: AUKUS enables India to build deeper nuclear ties with Australia to counterbalance China.
- QUAD: It strengthens the QUAD and encourages strategic cooperation among members.
- Help Balance China: The pact helps balance China’s influence and aggression against India.
- Sets Precedent: AUKUS may be the first of many such pacts among QUAD and NATO nations with India.
- Issues with France: The pact might strain relations with France due to the scrapping of its submarine deal with Australia.
- On Indo-Pacific
- Balance of Power: Helps counterbalance China’s hegemony in the Pacific.
- Nuclearisation: ASEAN nations are concerned about nuclear escalation in the region.
- Increased US Presence: Establishes a strategic US presence in the region through institutional means.
- Broadens QUAD: Expands QUAD’s mandate with the UK, US, and Australia as members.
- Multisectoral: AUKUS may support Quad efforts in maritime exercises, COVID-19, climate, technology, and resilient supply chains.
Issues/Challenges
- Militarisation: Brings Australia and the Indo-Pacific into US-backed military pacts, risking regional destabilization.
- Nuclearisation: Nuclear submarines may escalate conflicts with China and its allies.
- Antagonise China: May provoke China to assert more dominance.
- French Interests: Scrapped submarine deal affects France’s strategic interests.
Way Forward
- Engagement: AUKUS should integrate with QUAD to strengthen the stance against China.
- Negotiating Trade Deals: Rationalize trade with China to align with security frameworks.
- Multilateralism: Enhanced focus from nations like Japan, India, and the EU can secure the Indo-Pacific region.