Australia highlighted this Friday, March 22, that the historic agreement to develop AUKUS nuclear submarines with London and Washington “will come to fruition”, despite growing fears about costs, capabilities and the possible return of Donald Trump.
“The three governments involved are working apace to get this done,” Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles told reporters on Friday.
“It’s going to happen and we need it to happen,” he added. Under the fledgling AUKUS defense alliance, the three long-standing allies have pledged to jointly strengthen their military power to curb Chinese military expansion in the Asia-Pacific region.
“We live in more dangerous times”
Defense officials this week revealed ambitious plans to supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, one of the main pillars of the deal.
After just two years of existence, there are already signs that AUKUS and its main project could be under threat. Some fear that Donald Trump will abandon the pact if he wins the November presidential election and returns to his “America First” foreign policy.
With potential flashpoints emerging around the world and China’s increasingly aggressive attitude in the Taiwan Strait, visiting British Defense Minister Grant Shapps insisted on Friday that AUKUS is more important than ever. .
After decades of relative peace, Grant Shapps observed that the planet was slowly transitioning from a “post-war” to a “pre-war” era.
“We live in more dangerous times,” he said during a visit to the Osborne shipyard in South Australia. Australia announced Thursday that it will partner with Britain’s BAE Systems to build nuclear-powered submarines.
Source: BFM TV
