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Australia
This Week in AsiaPolitics

Australia’s Aukus nuclear submarines could fuel regional arms race despite assurance

  • Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy says Australia is not worsening the arms race and gives assurance about the submarines’ nuclear reactors
  • The deal could still spark a defence build-up in Asia-Pacific while Australia lacks the facilities to deal with nuclear waste, analysts say

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US President Joe Biden, Australian PM Anthony Albanese and British PM Rishi Sunak deliver remarks on the Australia-UK-US (AUKUS) partnership, after a meeting in San Diego on March 13, 2023. Photo: Reuters
Su-Lin Tanin Singapore
Australia may have asserted that its acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines under Aukus is not aggravating the “arms race”, but the deal and the three-nation alliance could still fuel a defence build-up in the Asia-Pacific and heighten regional tensions, security analysts say.
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At the national press club in Canberra on Tuesday, Australian Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy reiterated the importance of the submarines to the country’s defence while debunking “myths” about the trilateral deal struck with Britain and the United States, which is largely seen as a countermeasure targeting China.

“The arms race is the greatest it’s been since 1945, and that is why I reject assertions … that Australia is somehow fuelling that arms race,” he said, adding that rising tensions in the Asia-Pacific had posed the most challenging strategic environment for Australia since World War II. “We are responding to it in a responsible and mature manner, like Australian governments should.”

Australia will own at least eight submarines over the next three decades through the A$368 billion (US$243 billion) deal. First announced in 2021 and finalised earlier this year, the controversial pact has raised concerns in the region.

Collin Koh, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said Conroy’s comment was not a surprise as countries including China and others in Asia-Pacific often couched their arms acquisitions in “defensive terms”.

Most countries would do so in the name of national security interests but it did not mean such actions ensured peace or safety, he said.

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Even before Aukus was announced in 2021, China and other regional countries had already embarked on significant military build-up since the 1990s, Koh said.

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