US, UK, Oz leaders unveil nuclear submarine deal to counter China

The leaders of the US, the UK and Australia unveiled an ambitious multibillion-dollar plan for a new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines that will ply the Pacific in an effort to blunt China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea and around Taiwan. 

“Forging this partnership, we’re showing again how democracies can deliver our own security and prosperity, and not just for us but for the entire world,” President Joe Biden said. 

The programme will cost up to A$368 billion ($245 billion) over the next three decades, a defence official said on Tuesday, the country’s biggest single defence project in history.

The deal, which Biden announced with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, calls for the US to sell Australia as many as five of its Virginia-class submarines and then, two decades from now, for Canberra and London to deliver a next-generation submarine — to be dubbed the SSN Aukus — together. Biden said after unveiling details of the deal that he expected to speak to Chinese leader Xi Jinping soon, but declined to say when. Asked if he was worried that China would see the AUKUS submarine deal as aggression, Biden replied “no.”