US, UK & Australia to begin talks on bringing new members into AUKUS: Report
File photo.
The United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), and Australia will begin talks on bringing new members into their security partnership AUKUS as the US is pushing for Japan to be involved (in the alliance) as a deterrent against China. According to a report by the Financial Times on Sunday (Apr 7), the group's ministers would announce on Monday that they would launch talks related to Pillar II of the alliance, which commits the members to jointly developquantum computing, undersea, hypersonic, artificial intelligence, and cyber technology.
The report said that the defence ministers of the three countries are not considering expanding Pillar I, which focuses on Australia’s procurement of nuclear-powered submarines.
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AUKUS is part of the US, UK, and Australia's efforts to push back against China's growing power in the Indo-Pacific region. Beijing has called the security partnership dangerous and warned it could spur a regional arms race.
Biden seeking to step up partnerships with US' Asian allies
The above developments come as US President Joe Biden is seeking to step up partnerships with American allies in Asia, including Japan and the Philippines, amid China's historic military build-up and its growing territorial assertiveness, a report by the news agency Reuters said.
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The Pillar II talks of AUKUS come just two days before Biden will be hosting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a summit at the White House on Wednesday, and a historic US-Japan-Philippines trilateral meeting a day later.
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Biden and Kishida will likely discuss expanding AUKUS to include Japan during the White House summit.
Australia and UK pushing back against idea of including Japan
The US' idea to include Japan in AUKUS has been earlier opposed by Australia and the UK, partly because they want to focus on ironing out existing complications in their trilateral cooperation, the FT report on Sunday said.
Australia and the UK are concerned Japan still lacks the security systems required to protect highly sensitive information.
(With inputs from agencies)