What exactly is Aukus, the new defensive pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States?

(CNN Spanish) – “And so, my friends, Aukus is born”, said Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia, invoking the strange new acronym and escorted by the flags of his country, the United Kingdom and the United States.

“A new reinforced trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States,” he described during an announcement last week, accompanied -remotely- by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, and the President of the United States, Joe Biden.

Aukus (contraction of Australia-United Kingdom-United States, the English names of the members) marks a greater military coordination of the three countries in the Pacific Ocean, and its launch was made under the shadow of two other countries: China and France.

In the case of China, because a defensive alliance of the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom in the Pacific will collide with the influence of the Asian country in the region.

“Our world is increasingly complex, especially in our Indo-Pacific region. This affects us all. The future of the Indo-Pacific will affect all of our futures,” Morrison said.

“The United States will not leave Australia alone”

Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State, for his part, said that “the United States will not leave Australia alone in the field in the face of these pressure tactics”, referring to the alleged increasingly aggressive and nationalist approach of Beijing, towards Taiwan, in the South China Sea and towards American allies such as Australia.

“We have raised publicly and privately our serious concerns about Beijing’s use of economic coercion against Australia.”

In response, the Chinese embassy in Australia asked “abandon the antiquated cold war zero-sum mentality and narrow-minded geopolitical perception,” specifically telling Australia to “handle its relationship with China really independently.”

New submarines for Australia

This seems especially true given that Aukus envisions a major technology transfer from the United States and the United Kingdom to Australia, in the form of nuclear-powered submarines for the Australian navy.

A transfer that also poses a threat to nuclear non-proliferation efforts: Australia will become the seventh country to operate nuclear-powered submarines after United States, China, United Kingdom, France, India and Russia.

“Australia, again, does not seek and will not seek nuclear weapons; these are nuclear powered submarines”, insisted an official of the United States government.

France, on the other hand, has been affected precisely by this point, since the country had a multimillion-dollar agreement with Australia since 2016 to supply it with 12 conventional submarines, from which Canberra has withdrawn under the Aukus framework.

“Unacceptable behavior between allies and partners”

This could cost the French defense industry some US $ 65 billion, weakening the sector in a country that, in fact, already has a military alliance with the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia: the NATO (In the case of Australia, it is an extra-NATO ally, since it does not formally belong to the pact).

“This constitutes unacceptable behavior between allies and partners; its consequences affect the very concept we have of our alliances, our partnerships and the importance of the Indo-Pacific for Europe,” said Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs. from France, in a statement. “Politely speaking, it’s a real stab in the back,” he added.

But what exactly do we know about Aukus?

It is still not entirely clear what Aukus will consist of, beyond the project to transfer the technology to Australia to eventually deploy nuclear-powered submarines, and the possibility that the alliance will counteract the presence of China.

Aukus and the Quad

Australia and the United States are already part of a strategic partnership focused on the Indo-Pacific region, together with India and Japan: the so-called “Quad”, by Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.

The effects of Aukus in this group are not clear, although in the first instance they would mark the growth of the United Kingdom’s presence in the region.

According to the White House, the new alliance consists of “collaborating on joint capabilities and seeking deeper interoperability.”

“We will announce a new architecture of meetings and engagements between our top defense and foreign policy officials to share perspectives, to align points of view.”

“But we will also announce efforts to stimulate cooperation in many new and emerging fields: cybernetics; artificial intelligence, particularly applied intelligence; quantum technologies; and also some underwater capabilities,” said a high official.