(Beijing) China and Russia on Tuesday lambasted the spectacular nuclear submarine cooperation program launched the day before by the United States, Australia and Britain.
China has denounced a “wrong and dangerous course”, violating the objectives of the Non-Proliferation Treaty with “a serious risk of nuclear proliferation”. Russia has accused the “Anglo-Saxons” of orchestrating “years of confrontation” in Asia.
Anxious to stand up to China in the Pacific, Washington, London and Canberra launched their alliance dubbed AUKUS on Monday – announced 18 months ago to the chagrin of Paris, which saw its own submarines ousted. They will join forces to build a new generation of nuclear submarines in Australia, after Canberra’s planned purchase of several devices.
This attack submarine program aims to reshape the Western military presence in the Pacific, at a time when China is asserting its ambitions there.
“These three countries are increasingly embarking on a wrong and dangerous path, solely for the benefit of their geopolitical interests and in complete disregard of the concerns of the international community,” a spokesman for Chinese diplomacy told reporters. , Wang Wenbin.
Accusing the three Western countries of inciting an arms race, with an alliance embodying “a typical Cold War way of thinking”, he added that the sale of the submarines “poses a serious nuclear proliferation risk and will contrary to the aims and objectives of the Non-Proliferation Treaty”.
“The Anglo-Saxon world is building bloc structures like AUKUS, advancing the NATO infrastructure in Asia, and seriously betting on long years of confrontation,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei said. Lavrov.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) must ensure “that no risk of proliferation emanates from the project”, warned for its part its director general Rafael Grossi.
On Monday, from a naval base in San Diego, US President Joe Biden announced “unprecedented” cooperation, surrounded by Australian Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
With a “crucial” principle, he hammered: “these submarines will be nuclear-powered, but will not carry nuclear weapons”, to respect the principle of non-proliferation.
“We are putting ourselves in the best position to face the challenges of today and tomorrow together,” Biden said. He had implicitly referred to China in saying that the AUKUS alliance should ensure that “the Indo-Pacific remains free and open”. A formula which in American diplomatic jargon designates the desire to counter Chinese influence in the region.
Mr Albanese pointed out that Australia is making “the biggest investment” in defense in its history. According to Canberra, this multi-decade project will cost nearly $40 billion over the first ten years and will generate around 20,000 jobs.
Australia is the second country after Britain to have access to US Navy nuclear secrets, Mr Albanese insisted.
Rishi Sunak also touted efforts to boost its UK defense budget as it embarks on “the most important multilateral defense deal in generations”.
The attack submarine program, which has the ambition to reshape the Western military presence in the Pacific, will come in three phases, detailed the White House.
First there will be a familiarization phase with Australia – which has no nuclear-powered submarines or military or civilian nuclear technology.
Its sailors, engineers, technicians will be trained in American and British crews, as well as in American and British shipyards and specialized schools.
The objective is to deploy, from 2027 and on a principle of rotation, four American submarines and a British submarine on the Australian base of Perth (West).
In a second step, subject to the green light from the American Congress, Australia will buy three American nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarines, with an option on two more. They must be delivered from 2030.
In the third and most ambitious stage of the program, the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom will join forces for a new generation of attack submarines dubbed SSN AUKUS.
This will involve a gigantic industrial effort, especially for Australia which must have a new shipyard in Adelaide (South).
The new ships, British designed and incorporating advanced American technology, will be built and deployed by the UK and Australia.
They are to be delivered from the late 2030s and early 2040s.
Australia will build a high-tech nuclear manufacturing industry from scratch, says David Andrews, a military strategy analyst at the ANU.
“There are risks in the way of administering personnel, building production lines, managing supplies and maintenance,” he told AFP. “We don’t currently have a lot of capacity to train people like nuclear physicists or engineers and other specialties that we will need to operate these submarines.”
Nuclear-powered submarines are difficult to detect, can travel great distances for long periods of time, and carry sophisticated cruise missiles.