Beijing

China said that Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States are treading a "path of error and danger" after they unveiled a nuclear-powered submarines deal on Monday. Meanwhile, Russia said that the AUKUS submarine pact will bring 'years of confrontation' in Asia.

Advertisment

"The latest joint statement from the United States, United Kingdom and Australia demonstrates that the three countries, for the sake of their own geopolitical interests, completely disregard the concerns of the international communities and are walking further and further down the path of error and danger," China's foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday.

The spokesperson accused the three Western allies of inciting an arms race, saying the security deal was "a typical case of Cold War mentality".

The sale of submarines "constitutes a severe nuclear proliferation risk, and violates the aims and objectives of the Non-Proliferation Treaty", Wang said at a regular news conference in Beijing.

Advertisment

The announcement for nuclear submarine deal was made at an event at a naval base in San Diego, California, where the US President Joe Biden hosted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

ALSO WATCH | Aukus aims to counter china's growth footprint in Indo-Pacific

×

Advertisment

With a US Virginia-class nuclear submarine in the background of three leaders, Biden said the United States had "safeguarded stability in the Indo-Pacific for decades" and that the submarine alliance would bolster "the prospect of peace for decades to come".

Albanese said the deal represents the biggest single investment in Australia's defence capability "in all of our history".

ALSO READ | UK PM Rishi Sunak labels China as 'systemic challenge' to world order

The submarines are expected to be equipped with long-range cruise missiles, offering a potent deterrent.

The Australian Prime Minister said that the wider economic impact at home would be similar to the introduction of the automobile industry in the country after World War II.

Albanese underlined that Australia was now only the second country, after Britain, to be granted access to US naval nuclear secrets.

Three conventionally armed, nuclear-powered Virginia class vessels will be sold "over the course of the 2030s", with the "possibility of going up to five if that is needed", said Biden's national security advisor, Jake Sullivan.

Britain and Australia will then embark on building a new model, also nuclear-powered and carrying conventional weapons, dubbed the SSN-AUKUS. This will be a British design, with US technology, and with "significant investments in all three industrial bases", Sullivan said.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.