The Biden administration has announced a deal to help Australia deploy nuclear-powered submarines. The trilateral agreement, which includes the United Kingdom, aims to deter Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific region.
- Bradley Bowman, senior director for the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the agreement is a military technology partnership based on the United States’ “frenetic military technology competition with China and Russia.”
- Bowman said Australia has been a strong advocate for nuclear nonproliferation but that Beijing “pushed them to this” with its ambitious military modernization efforts.
- The Pentagon must put forward as much military combat power as possible with Quad allies and others to persuade Beijing it cannot accomplish its political objectives with military force, said Bowman.
