U.S., Britain, Australia mulling expansion of AUKUS security pact

Last Updated09/04/2024

The U.S., Britain and Australia are set to begin talks on bringing new members into their AUKUS security pact as Washington pushes for Japan to be involved as a deterrent against China.

They are not considering expanding the first pillar, which is designed to deliver nuclear-powered attack submarines to Australia,
AUKUS, formed by the three countries in 2021, is part of their efforts to push back against China's growing power in the Indo-Pacific region.
China has called the AUKUS pact dangerous and warned it could spur a regional arms race.

It is a trilateral security partnership for the Indo-Pacific, between Australia, the UK and the US (AUKUS) which was signed in 2021.
The major highlight of this arrangement is the sharing of US nuclear submarine technology to Australia.
Its Indo-pacific orientation makes it an alliance against China’s assertive actions in the South China Sea.
It involves a new architecture of meetings and engagements between the three countries, as well as cooperation across emerging technologies (applied AI, quantum technologies and undersea capabilities).