Washington. December 8th. INTERFAX - US Defense Ministers Lloyd Austin, Australia Richard Marles and Great Britain Ben Wallace noted progress in the implementation of the nuclear submarine construction project for Australia and spoke in favor of its speedy implementation, the Pentagon said.
The parties at the meeting held in Washington "stressed the exceptional progress made in the trilateral efforts to determine the optimal path for Australia to acquire nuclear submarines as soon as possible," the message reads.
They "approved the efforts aimed at (...) acceleration of technology supplies in the near future."
At the same time, as the Pentagon stressed, the three ministers "reaffirmed their commitment to establishing and maintaining the highest standards of nuclear nonproliferation" in cooperation with the IAEA.
In September 2021, US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Ministers Scott Morrison and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the creation of a new trilateral security partnership - AUKUS (Australia, United Kingdom, USA).
The first major initiative of AUKUS will be the construction of a nuclear submarine for Australia. This provides for the refusal of Canberra from the contract for the construction of submarines with the French company Naval Group in the amount, according to various sources, from $ 60 billion to $ 90 billion.
Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said after the announcement of the alliance that AUKUS aims to inflate the Cold War, violates the provisions of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and creates the threat of a nuclear catastrophe in the Pacific region, Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said after the signing of the agreement.
"First of all, AUKUS poses a danger of nuclear proliferation, seriously violates the spirit of the NPT, damages the Treaty on a Nuclear-Free Zone in the South Pacific," the diplomat stressed.
According to him, AUKUS is "trying to establish maritime hegemony, intensify a regional arms race, foment military adventures and undermine regional peace and stability."
"China strongly opposes this. The countries of the region and the international community also have tens of millions of reasons to jointly oppose this," Le Yucheng said.
Russia does not accept the creation of a trilateral defense alliance AUKUS by Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, Russian President Vladimir Putin said last November, speaking at the VTB Capital investment forum. He noted that the rivalry in the military sphere between the countries is increasing in the world.
