Australia and the UK yesterday said that a landmark deal to develop AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines would go ahead, despite mounting fears about costs, capabilities and the possible return of former US president Donald Trump.
Under the fledgling AUKUS deal, the two countries along with the US have pledged to beef up their military muscle in a bid to counter China’s rise. Defense chiefs this week unveiled ambitious plans to supply Australia with a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, a key pillar of the agreement.
“The three governments involved here are working at pace to make this happen,” Australian Minister for Defense Richard Marles told reporters yesterday. “This is going to happen and we need it to happen.”
Photo: REUTERS
Barely two years old, there are already signs that AUKUS and its central project could be under threat. Some fear Trump could jettison the pact if he wins this year’s US presidential election, returning to his “America first” style of foreign policy.
British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Cameron suggested that “brilliant” AUKUS and other alliances like NATO — which he dubbed “the most successful defense alliance in history” — needed to be fighting fit come US election time.
“I think whoever is president, the best thing we can do is to get those alliances, to get those projects into the best possible shape so whoever is the new president can see that they’re working,” Cameron said.
He added that he had “total confidence” that the deal would go ahead.
With potential flashpoints emerging across the globe, and China taking an increasingly aggressive stance in the Taiwan Strait, visiting British Secretary of Defence Grant Shapps said AUKUS was as crucial as ever.
After decades of relative peace, Shapps said the planet was slowly shifting from a “post-war” era to a “pre-war” footing. “We are living in more dangerous times,” he said during a tour of the Osborne Naval Shipyard in South Australia.
UK defense contractor BAE Systems has been enlisted to help construct Australia’s fleet of nuclear-propelled submarines.
Australia hopes to have eight nuclear-powered vessels in the water by the 2050s — a mix of the new AUKUS-class subs built at home and in the UK, and Virgina-class vessels purchased from the US.
Marles said a “drumbeat” of AUKUS-class submarines would then continue to roll off Australian production lines “every few years” in perpetuity.
“There is no country in the world which has obtained the capability to build nuclear-powered submarines, which has then turned that capability off,” he said.
Although the financial details of the BAE deal are under wraps, Australian defense officials want to initially build at least five AUKUS-class nuclear-powered subs at a cost of billions of dollars. The subs are to be quieter and stealthier than Australia’s existing diesel fleet, and capable of deploying over vast distances without surfacing, posing a potent threat to any foe.
BAE Systems, one of the largest defense contractors in Europe, said it was “already making good progress on the design and development of the next generation submarine.”
The company has a close relationship with the British Royal Navy, and is responsible for building its Astute-class and Dreadnought-class nuclear-powered vessels.
The scale of the project is vast, and questions have been raised about whether Australia — with limited nuclear experience and a relatively small navy — could pull it off.
Australian officials believe that about 20,000 workers would be needed for the homegrown nuclear industry — among them an army of technicians, metal workers, electricians and welders.
The Australian Navy has struggled to maintain its current fleet of aging diesel-electric subs, which have been plagued by design flaws and cost blowouts.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
OVERWHELMING SUPPORT: The bill with US$2 billion in Foreign Military Financing Program funds and US$1.9 billion to replenish defense articles passed the House 385-34 Taiwan is to continue working with the US to ensure peace in the Taiwan Strait, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday after the US House of Representatives approved a US$95 billion foreign aid package with funding for Taiwan. The bills were passed with bipartisan support in a rare Saturday session after votes had been delayed for months by House Republicans. After clearing the House, the bills — containing US$8 billion for Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region, along with US$60.8 billion for Kyiv, and US$26 billion for Israel and humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones — would be combined into a
The navy next month is expected to commission into service two more domestically built Tuo Chiang-class stealth missile corvettes, a source said yesterday. The Hsu Chiang (旭江, PGG-621) and the Wu Chiang (武江, PGG-623) would be officially commissioned in a ceremony early next month, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The corvettes, launched in February and June last year respectively, were delivered to the navy in February. They are the third and fourth Tuo Chiang-class stealth missile corvettes to be produced. The Tuo Chiang-class corvette is a domestically designed and manufactured class of fast and stealthy multipurpose corvette built for the