Three unnamed administration officials briefing reporters on background on March 12, on the then-pending AUKUS announcement in San Diego, minced no words on the “threat” supposedly posed by China, a threat which allegedly justifies equipping Australia with as many as 13 nuclear-powered attack submarines over the next three decades. “[E]ach of our three countries have [sic] a clear determination to take the necessary steps to maintain peace and stability going forward,” one of the officials claimed. “It’s a mission that the United States and other allies and partners have accepted for decades. And we believe that it is increasingly being challenged and under threat not only by developments in China, but other countries like North Korea and Russia, which share a Pacific engagement as well.”
“The Australians acquiring and operating a conventionally-armed nuclear-powered submarine is a substantial upgrade to the capabilities relative to their current diesel electric submarines,” said one of the other officials. “And the purpose of this, the fundamental purpose of this is to enhance deterrence in support of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific.”
