By ROD McGUIRK, Associated Press
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s shift to nuclear-powered submarines will assure its South Pacific neighbors of its commitment to regional security, Britain’s Minister of State for the Indo-Pacific said Monday.
Australia will announce in March what sort of submarine powered with U.S. nuclear technology it wants to construct under a cope with america and Britain revealed in September last 12 months.
Anne-Marie Trevelyan said she expects the three nations to work closely together to deliver a fleet of eight submarines.
“It’s going to be a extremely exciting project and really importantly will assure, I believe, not just for Australia, but for the Indo-Pacific region, for those Pacific islands that assurance that Australia’s commitment to their security is unassailable,” Trevelyan told the National Press Club.
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The previous Australian government infuriated French President Emmanuel Macron by canceling a contract for a French-built fleet of 12 conventionally-powered submarines value 90 billion Australian dollars ($66 billion). It opted as an alternative for nuclear-powered versions.
This month, Macron described Australia going nuclear as a “confrontation with China.”
Trevelyan said she disagreed with Macron’s stance that Australia must have stayed with the French contract.
“The Pacific is an enormous place. Having nuclear-powered submarines means you possibly can go further for longer, it’s a practical query,” Trevelyan said.
“The French navy has nuclear-powered submarines. What they were proposing to construct for (Australia), diesel submarines, shouldn’t be what the French use,” she added.
Australia’s government, elected in May after nine years in opposition, has been attempting to construct closer relations with its neighbors in a region where China is exerting more influence.
The federal government has accused the previous leadership of Australia’s worst foreign policy failure within the Pacific since World War II with China’s signing of a security pact with the Solomon Islands in April.
That accord has raised fears that a Chinese naval base is likely to be established within the South Pacific.
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