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Vanity FairMar 14, 2023
Australia will reportedly spend up to $245B by 2055 on a national defense program under the 2021 so-called AUKUS pact that includes building a new fleet of eight nuclear-powered submarines to be operational in the 2040s.
The largest single defense project in Australia's history was unveiled on Tuesday as US Pres. Joe Biden met with his Australian and British counterparts Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak at a US Naval Base in San Diego amid growing tensions with China in the Indo-Pacific region.
While the AUKUS allies pretend that their military buildup is about peace and stability, in reality, this deal sets off a destabilizing and unnecessary arms race that will further provoke China. This unjustifiable move reflects a cold war and colonial mindset in which the Anglophone powers believe they have a natural right to dominate the region. By investing hundreds of billions, Australia is not only making itself an agent of US hegemonic interests but also risks gambling away its own political and economic future in an increasingly multipolar arena.
The predictable Chinese criticism that the defense deal would provoke a new arms race and potentially undermine the non-proliferation regime is completely unfounded. Australia will not acquire nuclear weapons in the future and remains committed to peaceful coexistence with its neighbors. Meanwhile, it is China that is entirely non-transparent about its military build-up and refuses to accept a US offer for de-escalation. Given Beijing's increasingly hostile posture, it is now up to AUKUS to defend the freedom of the Indo-Pacific region.
There is a 16% chance that there will be a US-China war before 2035, according to the Metaculus prediction community.