Australia 'confident' on US nuclear submarines as Chinese threat looms

Prior to meetings between the two nations’ defence and foreign ministries on Friday, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed his confidence that an agreement for the U.S. to provide nuclear-powered submarines to Australia was progressing as planned.

The sale of three attack submarines to Australia as part of the so-called AUKUS collaboration, according to 25 Republican congressmen in the United States, would “unacceptably weaken” the American fleet if there was no clear replacement strategy in place.

The annual AUSMIN discussion, where the progress on the nuclear-powered submarine contract, regional security, and sustainable energy will be the emphasis, is taking place in Queensland state with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.

“I am very confident,” Albanese told reporters on Friday, when asked about the Republican letter, which noted the AUKUS agreement was “vitally important” but shouldn’t weaken the U.S. fleet.

Australia will purchase nuclear submarine technology from the United States under the terms of the three-way AUKUS defence deal, which the United States, Britain, and Australia announced in 2021.

Republicans and Democrats he spoke with outside of a NATO summit in Lithuania last month, according to Albanese, struck him with “their unanimous support for AUKUS.”

Australia’s top security ally, the United States, stated in March that it would sell Australia three nuclear-powered submarines of the Virginia class in the early 2030s before Britain and Australia jointly develop the SSN-AUKUS class in the following decade.

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said in a Sky television interview that Australia, which has agreed to invest $3 billion in U.S. submarine facilities, understood there was “pressure on the American industrial base” but AUKUS was “on track”.

“Why this arrangement is going to be so advantageous for all three countries is because we will develop an industrial base in this country which will contribute to the net capability of Australia, the UK and the U.S.,” he added.

China’s security ambitions in the Indo-Pacific will also be under discussion by the security allies over two days of talks.

“We’ve seen troubling (Chinese) coercion from the East China Sea to the South China Sea to right here in the Southwest Pacific, and will continue to support our allies and partners as they defend themselves from bullying behaviour,” Austin said before meeting Marles on Friday.

In response to China’s military modernization, Australia is restructuring its armed forces and intends to increase its long-range strike capacity, domestic missile production, and interoperability with the American and other regional militaries.

Austin stated that measures to include Japan in combined force posture initiatives as well as strengthening military ties would be considered.

“Now’s the time to be working closely with friends, and Australia has no better friend than the United States of America,” Marles said at the start of a meeting with his U.S. counterpart.

The northern city of Darwin, Australia, welcomes a rotation of U.S. Marines every year. This week, war simulations involving more than 30,000 soldiers from the US, Japan, and ten other nations are taking place in Queensland.

(With agency inputs)