SAN DIEGO - President
Joe Biden
on Monday took his most aggressive step to date to counter
China's military expansion
in the Asia-Pacific region, formally unveiling plans with Britain and Australia to develop and deploy
nuclear-powered attack submarines. .
In front of the USS Missouri nuclear submarine at the Point Loma naval base in San Diego, Biden and the leaders of the other two countries described the naval partnership as a crucial way to deal
with
China at a time of heightened tension with Beijing.
President Joe Biden gives a thumbs up as he boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland en route to San Diego, Calif., on March 13, 2023. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times)
It will create, US officials said, a "nuclear administration" among the allies.
"The United States has safeguarded stability in the Indo-Pacific for decades to the enormous benefit of nations throughout the region," Biden said, adding:
"We are demonstrating once again how democracies can provide our own security and prosperity, and not just for us, but for the whole world."
For the first time in 65 years, Biden said, the United States will
share the technology
at the heart of its nuclear submarines, allowing Australia to build powerful war machines that will become fleets capable of taking on Chinese submarines in the South China Sea. .
Initially, Australia will buy three submarines like the Missouri, eventually building a new version, called
the AUKUS
, with British and American help.
.
President Biden announced a landmark agreement with the leaders of Great Britain and Australia to develop fleets of nuclear-powered attack submarines.
(Haiyun Jiang/The New
The move is a sign of the extent to which Biden and his aides are investing in
strategic military planning
with allies and partners to counter China's growing capabilities and prepare for a potential armed crisis around Taiwan, the de facto independent democratic island. that the Chinese rulers claim as their territory.
US officials say the submarines' capabilities will also help deter aggression by
North Korea and Russia
, which has been conducting naval exercises with China in the region.
Nuclear submarines can stay underwater longer and travel farther than conventional submarines without surfacing.
They are a substantial improvement on the Australian Navy's six diesel-electric submarines, which will soon be out of service.
Nuclear-powered submarines are the main element of the AUKUS agreement, which also includes long-term cooperation plans in
artificial intelligence, quantum computing, cyber warfare and missiles.
Australian officials said Monday that the country would spend between
$178 billion and $245 billion
as part of the deal on nuclear submarines.
Monday's announcement was a key step by the three English-speaking nations to deepen the so-called AUKUS partnership they announced 18 months ago.
The deal had angered French authorities, whose own $66 billion submarine deal with Australia was canceled in the process.
Joining Biden, in front of the flags of the three countries, Australian Prime Minister
Anthony Albanese
and British Prime Minister
Rishi Sunak
highlighted the economic benefits of the deal, which they said would provide thousands of high-paying jobs to those who design, build and operate submarines.
"Our future security will be built and maintained not only by the courage and professionalism of our defense forces, but by the hard work and knowledge of our scientists and engineers, our technicians and programmers, our electricians and welders," Albanese stated.
Sunak - who on Monday also invited Biden to Northern Ireland on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that ended decades of conflict in that country - affirmed that the new alliance will cement the effort of democratic nations to contain the behaviors destabilizers.
"The challenges we face have only grown," he said.
"Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, China's growing assertiveness, Iran's and North Korea's destabilizing behavior threaten to create a world defined by danger, disorder and division.
Faced with this new reality, it is more important than ever that we strengthen the
resilience
of our own countries."
The plan firmly embeds Britain in American and Australian military strategies in the Asia-Pacific region, likely to put London at further odds with Beijing in years to come.
"He's tying the United Kingdom, a European power, with Australia, a Pacific power, with the United States being the glue that holds this new partnership together," said
Jake Sullivan
, White House national security adviser.
"And it's a manifestation of a broader stimulus that the president has offered to European allies to get more involved in Asia, and to Asian allies like Japan and Korea to get more involved in Europe."
In recent months, Biden and his aides have announced that they will help
Japan
bolster its military after decades of Tokyo's antiwar stance, and that they will deploy US troops and equipment to more non-US military bases in the
Philippines.
The Biden administration has also worked to strengthen cooperation among the countries of the Quadruple Alliance, a non-military partnership that includes the United States, India, Japan, and Australia, all countries increasingly concerned about expansive territorial claims and intentions. China's strategies in Asia.
Reaction
Beijing authorities have accused the United States of trying to inhibit China's growth.
Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, declared last week during a political meeting in Beijing that the United States was leading Western countries to undertake "a total containment,
encirclement
and suppression of China," the Chinese state news agency reported. Xinhua.
Mao Ning, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told a press conference on Thursday that the submarine deal "constitutes a serious risk of nuclear proliferation, undermines the international non-proliferation system, exacerbates the arms race and harms peace.
" and stability in Asia-Pacific".
Sullivan said Biden was planning to try to talk to Xi after the Chinese policy meeting.
He added that US officials had spoken with their Chinese counterparts about AUKUS in the past 18 months, but that communications between the two nations, even over military-to-military channels, have been poorer than Washington would like.
This is partly due to clashes over a
Chinese spy balloon
and US accusations that China could send weapons to Russia.
China should "stand ready to ensure that we have regular and routine communication and consultation guidelines at high levels," Sullivan said.
Until the new agreement, the United States only shared nuclear-powered submarine technology with Britain, as part of a defense agreement signed in 1958.
Washington officials say it is one of the "crown jewels" of the US military and defense industry.
US and Australian officials say Australia would have full sovereign command over any submarines it buys.
Australian commanders plan to have some US and British servicemen work on the ships to facilitate the
learning process.
Australia will first buy three nuclear-powered submarines from the United States - with an option to add two more - to be delivered from 2032, Sullivan said.
Some Australian politicians are demanding that the country's leaders guarantee that the agreement will be an important source of employment.
Officials in Canberra, the Australian capital, said Tuesday that the program would create 20,000 jobs over the next three decades.
The United States and Britain will supply Australia with nuclear fuel for its submarines, while adhering to strict rules on
non-proliferation
of weapons-grade nuclear material, US officials said.
As part of the deal, the United States and Britain will rotate nuclear-powered submarines to the port of Perth, Australia, by 2027.
One of these submarines, the USS Asheville, is there now on a port visit, ahead of the formal schedule of rotations.
Australian engineers will also work at production sites in the United States and Great Britain.
The first British-built submarines of the new class are expected to be delivered to the British navy in the late 2030s, before Australia builds the next batch at a new Adelaide shipyard.
Australian authorities hope to have their first submarine ready in 2042.
Biden has requested $4.6 billion in federal funds between now and 2028 to expand America's submarine manufacturing capacity, half of which is expected to go to production and half to maintenance, with Australia also contributing
. to that extension.
c.2023 The New York Times Company
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