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Oz seeks to reassure ASEAN after AUKUS gambit
Australia sought to reassure ASEAN that its new partnership with the United States and Britain, AUKUS, was “not a defense alliance or pact”, just as the region grows increasingly uncomfortable over the prospect of a more aggressive rivalry in its backyard.
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French President Emmanuel Macron (second left) and Australia's then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull (center) stand on the deck of HMAS Waller, a Collins-class submarine operated by the Royal Australian Navy, in Sydney in 2018. Australia has reneged on a submarine deal with France in favor of plans to acquire a nuclear-powered submarine through AUKUS, the trilateral pact involving the US and Britain. (AFP/Brendan Esposito)
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ustralia on Monday sought to reassure 10-nation ASEAN that its new partnership with the United States and the United Kingdom is “not a defense alliance or pact”, as the bloc grows increasingly uncomfortable over the prospect of a more aggressive great power rivalry in its backyard.
ASEAN effectively acts as a buffer separating Australia and China and helps maintain peace and stability in the region, although Beijing’s swift rise as a superpower is seen as a threat to the US and its allies.
At the same time, China’s increased militarization in the South China Sea has long stirred tensions with several ASEAN member states that reject its sweeping claim over the globally important and busy sea trade route.
However, last week’s announcement that Canberra would be acquiring nuclear-powered submarines through its new AUKUS trilateral partnership has spooked a number of countries, including in ASEAN, which collectively envisions Southeast Asia as a zone of peace, freedom and neutrality that is free of nuclear weapons.
Australian Ambassador to ASEAN Will Nankervis has tried to ease the concerns, asserting in a statement on Monday that AUKUS was not a defense alliance.
Nankervis claimed that the security partnership, which will be formally signed in Washington this week, “did not change Australia’s commitment to ASEAN nor our ongoing support for the ASEAN-led regional architecture”.
“We are committed to continuing to foster a peaceful, secure region with ASEAN at its center,” he said, while promising that Australia’s actions would be in line with ASEAN’s Nuclear Weapons Free Zone treaty.
