Wang Wenbin, China’s foreign ministry spokesman, said: “The latest joint statement from the US, UK 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.”
Wang accused the three Western allies on Tuesday 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.
“STABILITY FOR DECADES”
Monday’s announcement came at an event at a naval base in San Diego, California, where Biden hosted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
With a US Virginia-class nuclear submarine moored behind the trio’s podium, 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”.
The submarines are expected to be equipped with long-range cruise missiles, offering a potent deterrent.
Albanese predicted that the wider economic impact at home would be akin to the introduction of the automobile industry in the country after World War II.
The Australian government estimates the multi-decade project will cost almost US$40 billion in the first 10 years, and create an estimated 20,000 jobs.
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.
