Amid worry in the West over China's growing belligerence in the Indo-Pacific region, leaders of the AUKUS grouping of America, Australia, and the UK announced a major submarine deal.
Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak, and Anthony Albanese announced on 13 March 2023 that Australia will purchase nuclear-powered attack submarines from the US to modernize its fleet.
Biden, appearing sensitive to tensions with China and its criticism of the deal, stressed that the submarines are “nuclear powered, not nuclear armed.” “These boats will not have any nuclear weapons of any kind of them,” he said at an outdoor ceremony at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego, where he was flanked by Albanese and Sunak.
Two submarines, the USS Missouri and the USS Charlotte, were tied up at the next pier in the Pacific Ocean behind the leaders.
Albanese said the agreement “represents the biggest single investment in Australia's defense capability in all of our history.” It's also the first time in 65 years that the U.S. has shared its nuclear propulsion technology, ”and we thank you for it," he said.
(With agency inputs)
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