China denounces AUKUS pact and calls it “Cold War mentality” on Wednesday. It said that United States, United Kingdom and Australia should shake off their “Cold War mentality” aiming to contain China’s spread and influence through a defense agreement.
The security and defense partnership between the three countries called as AUKUS will involve wide-ranging projects on cyber warfare, artificial intelligence and quantum computing, and is expected to counter China’s influence in global politics.
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China denounces AUKUS pact for harming third parties interests
Liu Pengyu, the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC, said countries “should not build exclusionary blocs targeting or harming the interests of third parties” and added that they “should shake off their Cold-War mentality and ideological prejudice”.
US president Joe Biden announced the AUKUS alliance through a joint virtual event with Australian prime minister Scott Morrison and the UK’s Boris Johnson on Wednesday. The pact will be formally signed at the White House next week during the Quad summit.
US President Joe Biden appeared to forget PM Scott Morrison’s name during this morning’s historic announcement of the #AUKUS defence pact.
Biden said “I wanna thank that fella down under” after thanking UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Full story: https://t.co/PZDzcslVMO pic.twitter.com/Bh3iLgNDyJ
— Nine.com.au (@Ninecomau) September 16, 2021
China denounced the AUKUS pact last week that is to be signed in the upcoming Quad summit and added that “exclusive” regional cooperation cliques formed to target a third country “won’t be popular and has no future”. The first-ever in-person meeting of the Quad countries — US, Australia, India and Japan — is scheduled on 24 September.
China denounces AUKUS pact as it threatens its stakes in South China Sea
The AUKUS alliance will also enable Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, in a bid to counter China’s growing aggression ranging from the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean. With this agreement, Australia would become the seventh country, after the US, Russia, Britain, China, France and India, to acquire nuclear submarines.
The Scott Morrison government abandoned a $90bn submarine deal with France and entered into this new deal with the US and UK to boost its underwater defence capabilities.
Mr Morrison said plans for the submarines would be developed over the next 18 months and the vessels would be built in Adelaide but Australia will not field nuclear weapons. “We will continue to meet all our nuclear non-proliferation obligations,” he said.
Read more: Australia-U.S. nuclear submarine deal emerges against China
Mr Biden said this initiative is about making sure that “each of us has the most modern capabilities we need to manoeuvre and defend against rapidly evolving threats”.
“Today we’re taking another historic step to deepen and formalise cooperation among all three of our nations because we all recognise the imperative of ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region over the long term,” Mr Biden added.
Mr Johnson said: “This partnership will become increasingly vital for defending our interests in the Indo-Pacific region and, by extension, protecting our people back at home.”
AUKUS, a manifestation of joint regional voice against the Asian giant
This alliance comes amid China’s counter provocation to the Biden administration after he sought to rebuild security policies for the Indio-Pacific region. Since the beginning of his presidency, Mr Biden has sought a more unified voice from regional allies against the Asian giant. Beijing has been flexing its muscles in the Indian Ocean since early January, prompting a response from the other big players in the region such as India.
According to a Pentagon report, China has “the largest navy in the world, with an overall battle force of approximately 350 ships and submarines, including over 130 major surface combatants”.
Read more: “US is destructive”: China ratchets up its anti US propaganda
Unfruitful high level engagement between Biden and Xi
Mr Biden reportedly spoke with the Chinese president Xi Jinping over the phone last week after unfruitful high-level engagement between the two leaders’ top advisers. During the 90-minute long call, as reported by China’s Xinhua news agency, Mr Xi expressed concerns that US policy towards China has caused “serious difficulties” in relations.
And as China denounce AUKUS pact, the new defense agreement has deepened the rift between the two largest economies of the world whose trade according to TRT world contribute to 40% of the world trade. From US-China trade war that presidency of Donald Trump started to the formation of series of defense and strategic pacts between US and China’s regional rivals, any form of mutual co-existence appears difficult with Cold War mentality returning.
Read more: Biden, Xi talk for US-China reset, no breakthrough