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According to one diplomatic expert, the French government’s dissatisfaction with AUKUS’s trilateral agreement was not the cancellation of the $ 90 billion submarine project.
Instead, the AUKUS agreement represents an important step up in combating Beijing, which could destabilize France and Europe’s efforts to maintain “strategic autonomy” over the Chinese Communist Party administration. ..
“The French are very angry, not just submarines. They have tried to choose between Washington and Beijing. Adjunct professor of international affairs at Curtin University, Joseph Siracusa, 9 He told Sky News Australia on September 20th.
“Europe thought it could act as an honest intermediary between Washington and Beijing, and woke up one morning to find out that the United States, Britain and Australia were affiliated with this nuclear deal. Of course, Europe makes decisions that it doesn’t want. “
Siracusa said the loss of the $ 90 billion future submarine program by the French contractor Navy Group was merely a “bucket fall” for a country like France, not the actual cause of its anger. ..
Australia, in collaboration with the French Navy group, converted and converted the Barracuda-class nuclear submarine into a diesel-electrically driven model. However, the program has been plagued by constant delays and cost spikes as the delivery timeline expands.
“I think it was the only option (for Australia) because the French didn’t annoy or unnecessarily annoy Beijing. They wanted trade, economics and investment relationships. “He said.
European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, “Strategic autonomy” policy In recent years, he prefers to focus on the interests of its own foreign policy and the threats of the region.
As a result, the European Union (EU) sent a “contrast signal” in August about its relationship with Beijing. Rabobank Report, Declaration; “The EU has not yet cut off China, nor has it shown that it has a unified and coherent strategy for Beijing.”
China is the EU’s largest trading partner, and in December 2020, the United States strongly opposed it, signing a comprehensive investment agreement in December 2020, which in principle would have been an ambitious trade agreement between the two blocks. bottom.
However, the EU’s attitude toward China gradually changed, and Brock joined the United States, Britain, and Canada to impose sanctions on four Chinese officials involved in the Uighur genocide and accused Beijing of the agreement. Ratification has failed in recent months. Cyber attack.
Faced with a threat matrix that is significantly different from the Chinese administration, countries in the Indo-Pacific region, along with Taiwanese authorities, are taking a more rigorous and clearer stance on Beijing’s growing aggression. We welcome AUKUS.
Siracusa said the only truly effective deterrent against the Chinese Navy was attack submarines.
“Now Australia will be able to sink the Chinese Navy in 72 hours. That’s all,” he said.
“The Chinese know they have been defeated and they are very angry,” he added. “So, in a very short period of time, Australia has changed from a front door mat to a very important one. It’s an extraordinary development.”
The move makes Australia one of the only countries in the world to operate nuclear-powered submarines, despite being non-nuclear, with the exception of the United States, United Kingdom, China, Russia, France and India.
White House officials said US nuclear propulsion technology sharing and involvement with other countries at this level was “rare.”
“As I have shown, this was done only once before, which was almost 70 years ago in Britain,” officials told reporters on September 16.
“This technology is very sensitive. This is, frankly, an exception to our policy in many ways. I don’t think this will happen in any other situation in the future. This is a one-time thing. I consider it to be. “
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