Few issues underscore Australia-China suspicions as much as the nuclear submarine pact, which Beijing has made clear its opposes
Australia, the US and Britain are expected to make public their designs for a new fleet of nuclear-powered Australian submarines next month
Ties between Australia and China have improved faster than many expected since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took power last year. Beijing’s reaction to Canberra’s plans for a new submarine may show whether the goodwill can last.
Albanese is expected to travel to Washington in mid-March to unveil the design for a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines to be built with the help of the US and Britain.
The joint announcement with President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would represent a key milestone in the 18-month-old Aukus partnership intended to counter growing Chinese naval might in the Asia-Pacific region.
The reset with Beijing has Canberra once again navigating the rivalry between the US – Australia’s most powerful ally – and China, its biggest trading partner.
That’s only getting more difficult, as demonstrated by the recent breakdown between Beijing and Washington. Although Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao told his Australian counterpart this month that the “freeze is over”, the chill could quickly return.
“There’s a willingness on China’s side to talk to Australia in ways they haven’t for four or five years,” said Richard McGregor, author of Asia’s Reckoning: China, Japan and the Fate of US Power in the Pacific Century. While the improvement in relations between Canberra and Beijing has been significant, “I think it has its limits,” said McGregor, who’s a senior fellow for East Asia at the Sydney-based Lowy Institute.
source: scmp
