The head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, on Wednesday, September 22, during a meeting in Washington, discussed with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison the implementation of agreements on the military-political partnership AUKUS, which also includes the United Kingdom. This was reported by the press service of the US military department.
As the American Defense Minister noted, at present, the coordination of actions within the trilateral partnership is "higher than ever". Countries perceive regional challenges "from similar angles and with a common sense of urgency."
"We will continue to cooperate closely in the deployment of forces, the strategic sphere, the synchronization of regional policy and military operations. All this joint work expands our capabilities to contain threats to the free and open Indo-Pacific region, " Austin said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Morrison explained the benefits of the AUKUS partnership for European countries. According to him, this alliance opens the way for the EU countries to cooperate with the states of the Indo-Pacific region, where the EU has long sought to increase the percentage of presence.
Regarding the contract for the construction of submarines terminated with France, the head of the Australian government noted that his country will fulfill all obligations under the terms of termination.
On September 15, the United States, Great Britain and Australia announced the creation of AUKUS. Within the framework of the partnership, over the next year and a half, Australia will be handed over technologies for the construction of nuclear submarines, and will help to re-equip the armed forces.
For the sake of new opportunities, Canberra has terminated a contract with Paris for the supply of submarines worth $66 billion. The Australian leadership explained its decision by the inconsistency of the French submarines with the new tasks.
On September 18, the head of the French Foreign Ministry, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said that the crisis in relations would greatly affect the definition of the new strategic concept of NATO, but, according to him, this would not entail the country's withdrawal from the alliance.
On September 22, it became known that French President Emmanuel Macron and the head of the White House Joe Biden discussed by phone the situation that developed after Australia broke the contract for the supply of French submarines in favor of the United States. The press service of the White House, following the conversation of the heads of state, reported that the French ambassador, recalled due to the scandal with the termination of the contract for submarines, will return to Washington next week. They added that the diplomat will begin intensive work with high-ranking US officials. White House press Secretary Jen Psaki said that Washington hopes that the telephone conversation was a step towards normalizing relations between the two countries.
