China fury at bold alliance
UK pact labelled ‘Cold War thinking’ but PM vows it will ‘preserve security around world’
Boris Johnson last night said Britain’s new defence pact will ‘preserve security around the world’ – despite fury from China and France.
The Prime Minister said the ground-breaking alliance between the UK, the Us and Australia – dubbed AUKUs – will ensure stability in the indoPacific region. it will also see the nations teaming up to develop nuclear-powered vessels for the Australian navy, which Mr Johnson said would help generate ‘hundreds of high-skilled jobs’.
He said scotland and parts of the North of England and the Midlands will benefit from work on the Australian submarine fleet.
The new alliance was fiercely opposed by China, which described it as ‘extremely irresponsible’ and ‘narrow-minded’. state media said it was ‘Cold War thinking’, and warned that Australian soldiers will be the ‘first to die’ in a Chinese ‘counterattack’.
But Defence secretary Ben Wallace said the Chinese were wrong to see the agreement as an attempt to engage in a new Cold War.
French officials were furious after Australia said it would have to tear up a £30billion deal with Paris for diesel-electric subs in favour of the stealthier craft to be built using UK and Us components.
in the Commons, former prime minister Theresa May suggested to Mr Johnson that the alliance could lead to the UK being dragged into war if China invaded Taiwan.
He replied: ‘The United Kingdom remains determined to defend international law and that is the strong advice we would give to our friends across the world, and the strong advice that we would give to the government in Beijing.’
in Paris, French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said he was ‘really angry’ at the contract breach, adding: ‘it was a stab in the back. We built a relationship of trust with Australia, and this was betrayed.’
Mr Johnson insisted the UK’s military relationship with France was ‘rock solid’. Mr Wallace said he recognised French frustration but insisted the UK ‘didn’t go fishing’ for the contract and had instead been approached by Australia.
Amid the anger from China, Mr Johnson told MPs the AUKUs pact was ‘not intended to be adversarial’ towards any nation, adding: ‘it merely reflects the close relationship that we have with the United states and with Australia, the shared values that we have and the sheer level of trust between us that enables us to go to this extraordinary extent of sharing nuclear technology in the way that we are proposing to do.’
Brussels was blindsided by the announcement, with the European Commission saying it was urgently seeking more information.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the AUKUs allies needed to abandon their ‘outdated Cold War zero-sum mentality’ otherwise they would ‘only end up shooting themselves in the foot’.
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern said the submarines will be banned from her country’s waters as it has a long-standing nuclear-free policy. Miss Ardern said she was not approached about the pact, ‘nor would i expect us to be’.
The UK’s new national security adviser last night said Britain’s special relationship with the Us needed to ‘accelerate’.
As sir stephen Lovegrove revealed plans for greater ‘future force design, technological and industrial cooperation’, he said: ‘We need to accelerate this vital partnership further, including in critical areas such as strategic planning, future force design, technological and industrial cooperation – and a systematic approach to reducing or removing barriers to sharing information, data and technology.’