MADRID, April 5 (EUROPEAN PRESS) –
The United Kingdom, the United States and Australia, the countries that make up the AUKUS group – the acronym for each country in English – have reaffirmed their commitment to providing Canberra with nuclear-powered naval and submarine propulsion technology.
US President Joe Biden; British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison, discussed the progress of the coalition, which emerged in mid-September 2021, on Tuesday.
“We are pleased with the progress in our trilateral program for Australia to build a conventionally preferred nuclear-powered submarine capability,” Downing Street said in a statement.
Correspondingly, London has stressed its commitment to sharing the necessary technology with Canberra for the Australian Government to implement and strengthen a non-proliferation regime in the Indo-Pacific region.
The UK, Australia and the US have also agreed to implement new trilateral cooperation on “hypersonic and counter-hypersonic and electronic warfare capabilities”, as well as to “expand information sharing and deepen cooperation in defense innovation”.
The initiative is in line with deepening cooperation in cybernetic capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technology and additional submarine capabilities, although from London they have stressed that they will continue to seek “opportunities to engage close allies and partners”.
The AUKUS powers have reaffirmed their commitment to a “free and open” Indo-Pacific and have advocated for an international system that respects human rights, the rule of law and the peaceful resolution of disputes following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
