In this special episode, we sat down with two guests, Dr. Anders Corr, publisher of the Journal of Political Risk, and Rick Fisher, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center. They touch on the AUKUS deal between Australia, the UK, and the United States, the blowback from France, and what it means going forward.
Anders said, “First and foremost, the deal is for new nuclear submarines for Australia. Those are not nuclear weapon submarines, per se. … Their engines are powered by U.S. nuclear plants. And those submarines can go much farther and stay out much longer at sea than the traditional diesel-electric submarines that were going to be provided by France. So France is upset because they’ve lost a multi-billion dollar deal to produce more than 12 submarines for Australia. And then there are other elements to the AUKUS deal. For example, cybersecurity, and closer intelligence sharing. So because of this, France feels shut out of the alliance, and they feel that this was done behind their back. However, Biden initially went to France and Germany and asked for a closer alliance on China. And they refused. So the current upset from France is really is a bit of, you know, tempest in a teapot.”
Fisher said, “AUKUS came about largely because of mounting threats from China to Australia. For the last 20 years, China has been trying to gradually create an economic dependence in Australia, dependence based on commerce with China. And about five to eight years ago, it started blatantly using that advantage, or political and economic leverage, and in the last few years, has tried to turn that leverage into coercive power. The Chinese Communist Party has infiltrated Australia’s political system, and has engaged in quite blatant and loud and consistent economic threats and even military threats.”
Watch the full episode on EpochTV.
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