Australia says AUKUS a response to arms race, not fuel for it

Australia responding to arms race, not fuelling it: AUKUS project to build nuclear-powered subs in Oz by 2040. Def Min Conroy: conflict not inevitable, must deter before it reaches shores. Boosted military exercises in SE Asia, 1st joint patrols with Philippines. Nuclear-powered subs for intelligence & striking enemy targets.

The Indo Pacific region is in the midst of a substantial arms race that Australia is responding to, not fuelling, with its planned acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines, Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said on Tuesday, November 28, 2023.

The $245 billion AUKUS project with Britain and the United States to build a new class of nuclear-powered and conventionally armed submarine has been criticised by China as having the potential to spark an arms race.

In a speech in Canberra responding to domestic political criticism of the high cost and ambition of the program, which aims to build the submarines in Australia by 2040, Mr. Conroy said AUKUS (acronym for Australia, the U.K, and the U.S.) was fundamental to Australia's defence.

"The arms race is the greatest its been since 1945, and that is why I reject assertions... that Australia is somehow fuelling that arms race. We are responding to it," he told the National Press Club in a speech drawing parallels with the lead-up to World War Two.

"Conflict is far from inevitable," he said, adding that Australia cannot afford to under-invest in defence. "We must be able to deter conflict before it begins, and certainly before it reaches our shores."

A shake-up of Australia's defence forces has prioritised protecting the continent's northern approaches and sea trade routes, and Australia has boosted military exercises with other nations in Southeast Asia this year, including the first joint patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea on Saturday, November 25, 2023.

Australia's nuclear-powered submarine fleet will be used for intelligence gathering in peacetime and to strike enemy targets during a war, Mr. Conroy said.