Sydney (Australia) (EFE) .
This is clear from a government analysis cited by the Australian Financial Review, which specified that Australia will build the submarines in Adelaide with a British design and with a combat and weapon system from the United States.
The Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, is in San Diego (United States), where this Monday he plans to announce together with his British counterpart, Rishi Sunak, and the US President, Joe Biden, the details on the development of these submarines, that have provoked the rejection of Beijing.
In a statement on Sunday night before holding a bilateral meeting with Sunak in San Diego (Monday afternoon in Australia), Albanese indicated that the acquisition of nuclear submarines by his country responds to the “interests of the three countries” of the pact.
“I think the cooperation we’ve had is really exciting. We see that this is an investment in our (military) capacity. But at the same time, of course, we are also investing in our relationships in the region,” Albanese said, according to a statement released today.
Albanese, who traveled to the United States over the weekend for the announcement after a tour of India where he met with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, said he has explained to various leaders in the Indo-Pacific region the intentions of this acquisition. , which has outraged China.
In turn, Sunak said that the announcement of the purchase “is an important day for United Kingdom-Australia relations”, while reaffirming his country’s “commitment” to the Pacific and “the values” shared with like-minded nations, according to the statement from the Albanese office.
Australia is expected to buy up to five US submarines before purchasing submersibles based on a British design and US technology in the long term, according to the Canberra Executive.
Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States signed the AUKUS (acronym in English for the three countries) security pact in September 2021, which included the purchase of these nuclear-powered submersibles, as part of efforts to counter Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
The development of nuclear submarines in Australia involved the cancellation of a contract with the French shipping company Naval for the development of conventional submersibles worth 55,000 million euros, as well as tensions between Canberra and Paris and a payment of compensation of 555 million of euros.