Nuclear Submarines and AUKUS: A Collective Security Pact to Revise the Indo-Pacific Order
By: Adel Iqbal (3/23/2022)
AUKUS marks a departure from conventional American foreign policy aimed at limiting China’s budding hegemony over the Indo-Pacific corridor. The newly ratified trilateral security initiative between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States strives to enhance military cooperation between the nations by providing at least eight nuclear-powered submarines to the Royal Australian Navy. As per the agreement, an initial 18-month scoping phase conducted by the United States will assess Canberra’s security needs through maritime surveillance in the region. Subsequently, the United Kingdom will provide critical nuclear technologies and conventional weapons required for the manufacturing of submarines in Australia [1]. Under the newly formed pact, Australia would become the seventh country - alongside China, France, the U.K., India, Russia, and the U.S. - to commission a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines [2].
The international response to this collective security alliance has been highly polarized. Some states have commended the robust response to China’s presence in the Indo-Pacific whereas others have ardently criticized the agreement as threatening nuclear security and existing military alliances [3]. Previous bilateral negotiations between Australia and France culminated in a 2016 agreement to supply Canberra with French-built Attack-class nuclear submarines that use 6% low-enriched uranium and are designed to be refueled every ten years [4]. At the time, France hoped for a close partnership between the two nations. France believed that the contract, valued at roughly €35 billion, would catalyze further sharing of valuable intelligence and increased interoperability in the South China Sea. As news of AUKUS emerged, tensions between Paris and Washington rose, and France rapidly communicated its anger at the AUKUS negotiations, which it labeled a “stab in the back” [5]. Upon the announcement of AUKUS, France formally recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia, a symbolic yet unprecedented diplomatic protest between the close allies. In France’s view, AUKUS has the potential to inflict irrevocable damage upon the historically strong transatlantic relationship, and the ordeal could prompt other European Union member states to further enhance their collective military capacity.
The geopolitical outlook in the Indo-Pacific region remains grim amid China’s increasingly hegemonic aspirations. Emerging defense alliances predicated upon the need for more robust collective security reaffirm the West’s commitment to maintaining internationally recognized maritime boundaries, such as those in the South China Sea. Condemned by senior officials in the Chinese government as exacerbating a reckless “cold-war mentality,” Beijing appears committed to a zero-sum solution by orienting itself as an adversary to Australia [4]. With reconciliation between nations looking increasingly elusive, the AUKUS deal has left many questioning the extent to which the United States is willing to relinquish historical alliances in order to achieve a tenable solution in the Indo-Pacific region.
[1] Wintour, Patrick. “What is the AUKUS alliance and what are its implications?” The Guardian. September 16, 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/sep/16/what-is-the-aukus-alliance-and-what-are-its-implications.
[2] Tarapore, Arzan. “AUKUS Is Deeper Than Just Submarines.” Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, September 29, 2021. https://fsi.stanford.edu/news/aukus-deeper-just-submarines.
[3] Jackson, Douglas D. “More Than Submarines: Implications of AUKUS in the Air Domain.” Council on Foreign Relations, October 5, 2021. https://www.cfr.org/blog/more-submarines-implications-aukus-air-domain.
[4] Tewari, Suranjana. “Aukus: UK, US and Australia pact signals Asia-Pacific power shift.” BBC, September 16, 2021. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58540808.
[5] Landler, Mark. “Submarine Deal Gives Post-Brexit Britain Its Moment on the Global Stage.” The New York Times, September 18, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/18/world/europe/britain-us-france-submarines-brexit.html.