Australia’s pivot to nuclear subs ‘a stab in the back,’ France says

has cancelled a contract with France for conventional submarines and instead will build nuclear-powered submarines using U.S. technology because of changing strategic conditions in the region, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Thursday.

U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday a new security alliance with Australia and Britain that will help equip Australia with a nuclear submarine fleet.

The agreement would make Australia the first country without nuclear weapons to obtain nuclear-powered submarines.

Morrison said U.S. nuclear submarine technology wasn’t available to Australia in 2016 when it entered a 56-billion Australian dollar ($51-billion) deal with France to build 12 of the world’s largest conventional diesel-electric submarines. The U.S. has previously only shared the technology with Britain.

Biden did not mention China by name in announcing the new security alliance, but it is likely to be seen as a provocative move by Beijing, whose military strength and influence have grown rapidly.

Peter Jennings, head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think tank, said Australia’s decision to acquire nuclear submarines was a response to China’s increasing military might, aggressive bullying of Australia and intimidation of Japan and Taiwan.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian expressed “total incomprehension” at the decision and criticized Australia and the U.S.

“It was really a stab in the back,” Le Drian said Thursday on France-Info radio.