Aukus, the new anti-China pact: nuclear deterrent to Australia and EU ambition unmasked
The announcement of the constitution of Aukus – an alliance between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia aimed at providing the latter with a nuclear submarine deterrent – has made the French angry, the Chinese worried and revealed the unrealism in the common foreign and defense policy of European Union.
In the virtual press conference chaired by the British and Australian heads of government and the US president, the intention emerged to create an anti-Chinese containment force in the Indo-Pacific, the new "hottest" geopolitical area in the world, where the Anglo-Saxons will primarily seek to limit Chinese expansionism. "Cold War mentality", commented the Chinese authorities, demonstrating a move that, while it can fuel tensions between the US and China, on the other hand endows a historic ally of the Americans with an imposing deterrent force.
The Aukus provides for the provision of technologies and means to build Down Under , in Adelaide, hyper-technological submarines equipped with nuclear warheads. It will not be the Canzuk dreamed of by the British arch-Brexiteers but it is the first effort of an even deeper integration between the democracies of the Anglo-Saxon world under the military level, of common defense and sharing of technologies. Canada – close to an electoral round that could change the political balance – and New Zealand are not participating. New Zealand Labor Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her country is against nuclear proliferation and will prevent Australian submarines from entering New Zealand waters.
To remain with the match in hand after the historic announcement of the three, it was France, which in the past had signed an agreement for the supply of 12 submarines with the Australian government, for a value of 56 billion euros. Now, however, Canberra has notified Naval Group that they wish to withdraw from the contract. "A stab in the back," said the French foreign minister, Yves Le Drian. Defense Minister Florence Parly, on the other hand, did not rule out the request for compensation.
The new Trilateral Security Partnership, which will see Australia share US nuclear technology for the first time, highlights even more, if ever needed, the delay and illusory nature of the ambition to have a common defense. European Union, enunciated over and over in recent days by the Brussels summits. The same High Representative for the EU's common foreign and defense policy, Josep Borrell admitted that the Union was not consulted by the Aukus countries, and asked for time to assess the strategic repercussions of the agreement. All this while Ursula Von Der Leyen from Strasbourg, in her speech on the State of the Union, said: “We need a Union of defense. Europe can and must do more on its own to give more stability to our neighborhood and other regions ”.
The feeling is that while the Anglo-Saxon allies proceed in a practical and energetic way, the EU is moving between two conflicting ambitions (within the thousand ambitions of its member states and its structures): that of being, obtorto neck, a pacifist force. (remember? "Europe daughter of Venus" by Robert Kaplan or even the writings of Robert Stiglitz on the subject), but at the same time wanting to have a common structure under the military aspect to really count in the world.
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This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL http://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/quotidiano/aukus-il-nuovo-patto-anti-cina-deterrente-nucleare-allaustralia-e-velleitarismo-ue-smascherato/ on Fri, 17 Sep 2021 09:04:38 +0000.