AUKUS stunt

Asia-Pacific is on the path of gun diplomacy. The decision of the United States to upgrade Australia’s naval powerbase with five nuclear submarines is set to torpedo the power balance in the region. China has rightly expressed its concern, as it blamed the AUKUS alliance for treading a path of ‘error and danger’. The threat perception is qualified as, of late, it has been witnessed that extra-territorial forces are out to man the South China Sea, and Canberra is being used as a ploy to further strategic designs against Beijing. In a surprising move, President Joseph Biden while hosting leaders from Australia and Britain announced that Washington would sell the ambitious state-of-the-art marine technology to Australia, and the latter would then go on to build a new model with US and British technology, in an attempt to browbeat Chinese stewardesses.

The Chinese spokesperson was right in saying that this module of engagement is a legacy of the Cold War, and will lead to proliferation of a new arms race in the region. The fact that Australia is being buckled up by Britain and the US to stand up against Chinese interests in the region is quite alarming. While Canberra and Beijing have had a settled approach of formal engagement in the region, and the fissures of South China Sea with many of the ASEAN members, who are incidentally US allies, were in a gradual momentum of business, this new hiccup of nuclearisation will up the stakes.

This is nothing but posturing in a crude attempt to derail thrust on developmental economics in the form of Belt and Road Initiative. Likewise, it comes as another attempt to violate the aims and objectives of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, as Australia despite its resolve not to go nuclear will be at the edges of temptation to take the enrichment route. The premise of AUKUS has been one of intervention in the region, and coupled with QUAD, as it encompasses India, is a proactive strategy against Chinese interests in the region. This policy will beget more acrimony, and will surely spoil serenity in the longer-run.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2023.

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