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28 August 2024

The new Asian order

Sam Roggeveen

What vision of Asian order underpins AUKUS?

Some people will regard this question as a category error. AUKUS is a technology program and nothing more. As defence minister Richard Marles said in April 2024, “AUKUS is not a security alliance. That’s not what it is. AUKUS is a technology-sharing agreement.”

Marles is narrowly correct: AUKUS, in and of itself, is not a security treaty. But prime ministers and presidents wouldn’t typically fly around the world to attend a launch event in San Diego for a mere technology-sharing agreement, as Rishi Sunak, Anthony Albanese and Joe Biden did in March last year.

AUKUS is far from anodyne and apolitical. Right down to its highly enriched uranium reactor core, it is about geopolitics and about the US–Australia alliance. In fact, it’s the most important thing to happen to ANZUS since it was founded in 1951. Australian nuclear-powered submarines are the most prominent feature of the agreement, but we shouldn’t forget the basing arrangements: HMAS Stirling in Western Australia will host up to five American and British submarines, while the Tindal air force base will be expanded to accommodate US bombers including the B-52 and B-2. If the United States goes to war with China, operations will be conducted from these bases, and several others.

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