AUKUS: Differing Perspectives

 


An Opinion
Like it or not, the alliance endowed with the cacophonous acronym AUKUS, is a super exclusive "Anglosphere" club.  It is sort of an oxymoron like "Going to war to defend peace".
To defend the rules based order, AUKUS powers have perforce to elevate themselves above the rules. It is nothing new for the UK, for it already suffers from a case of "colonial hangover" and the US is prone to always take the moral high ground despite it being guilty of the same infraction. In addition to sharing sharing nuclear propulsion technology, it also envisages collaboration on matters of cybersecurity, AI, quantum computing and undersea capabilities. 
✔ What is being not widely mentioned, is that AUKUS involves sharing of weapons-grade uranium which violates the NPT stipulation on the use of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. The arrangement may well set a precedent for others to seek their own nuclear-powered submarine fleets. From there, the further spread of nuclear weapons is just a short step away.
Claiming to stabilise the Indo-Pacific, this outside 'Anglosphere' intervention, has already caused upset within the region.  
✔ASEAN members are voicing concernt about a regional arms race
✔Pacific Island states fear an overstepping of the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty
✔Japanese government is emboldened as far as Taiwan is concerned
✔It might very well be a tit for tat move by the US as China had repeatedly breached the treaty by sharing nuclear technology with Pakistan, a non signatory to the NPT. In that sense, this deal might also be exploring the boundary conditions of the NPT.
✔ However, India is set to gain.       
  • France feeling betrayed and smarting at a lost deal, is ready to share advanced military technology with India. 


✔AUKUS has created difficulties in NATO by antagonising France, who feel betrayed. The French European and Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian called it “un coup de poignard dans le dos” -stab in the back. However, I feel that the US were paying back Macron for what he said.

✔The Five Eyes club has been thrown into disarray and fissures seems to have developed within itself. The troika of anti-China powers in the alliance- the US, the UK and Australia, no longer trust New Zealand and Canada over their pro-China behaviour. Thus these countries now feel snubbed. To quell rumours about the expansion of AUKUS, the US has been forced to clarify via one of its most senior military commanders.👇

"We haven't discussed specifically adding to AUKUS with other nations at this point — but that shouldn't subtract or detract from our ability to execute increased cooperation through other means other than just nuclear propulsion," 
— Adm John Aquilino,Commander INDOPACOM 

Watch : The video

This club is also slated to expand and India might just be a possible beneficiary

Thus it truly is an issue which has ramifications for a lot of countries and groupings



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