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U.S., U.K., Australia Combine to Counter China

China’s massive military growth has spurred a new international alliance, concentrating on countering Beijing’s massive naval might.

The U.S., the United Kingdom and Australia have established a new organization, referred to as AUKUS (Australia, United Kingdom, United States) which combines the nuclear and naval technology of the three nations.

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison explained that “Our world is becoming more complex, especially here in our region, the Indo-Pacific…To meet these challenges, to help deliver the security and stability our region needs, we must now take our partnership to a new level…And so, … AUKUS is born — a new enhanced trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States…a partnership where our technology, our scientists, our industry, our defense forces are all working together to deliver a safer and more secure region…The first major initiative of AUKUS will be to deliver a nuclear-powered submarine fleet for Australia.”

President Biden explained that “This initiative is about making sure that each of us has a modern capability — the most modern capabilities we need — to maneuver and defend against rapidly evolving threats.  AUKUS will bring together our sailors, our scientists, and our industries to maintain and expand our edge in military capabilities and critical technologies, such as cyber, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and undersea domains…I want to be exceedingly clear about this:  We’re not talking about nuclear-armed submarines.  These are conventionally armed submarines that are powered by nuclear reactors.  This technology is proven.  It’s safe.  And the United States and the UK have been operating nuclear-powered submarines for decades.

Naval threats aren’t the only focus of the new organization. Cyber security will also be a key component.

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The U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency warns that The Chinese government engages in malicious cyber activities to pursue its national interests. Malicious cyber activities attributed to the Chinese government targeted, and continue to target, a variety of industries and organizations in the United States, including healthcare, financial services, defense industrial base, energy, government facilities, chemical, critical manufacturing (including automotive and aerospace), communications, IT (including managed service providers), international trade, education, video gaming, faith-based organizations, and law firms. Additionally, Advisories published by CISA and other unclassified sources reveal that China is conducting operations worldwide to steal intellectual property and sensitive data from critical infrastructure organizations, including organizations involved in healthcare, pharmaceutical, and research sectors working on COVID-19 response.

According to the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence 2021 Annual Threat Assessment, “China presents a prolific and effective cyber-espionage threat, possesses substantial cyber-attack capabilities, and presents a growing influence threat.” The Assessment states that “China can launch cyber attacks that, at a minimum, can cause localized, temporary disruptions to critical infrastructure within the United States.” Additionally, the Assessment states that “China’s cyber-espionage operations have included compromising telecommunications firms, providers of managed services and broadly used software, and other targets potentially rich in follow-on opportunities for intelligence collection, attack, or influence operations.

While AUKUS’ high-tech goals will remain the exclusive domain of the U.S., the U.K., and Australia, it may inspire future cooperative ventures in the Indo-Pacific region that seek to counter China’s rapidly growing armed forces and their aggressive actions. Beijing now has the world’s largest navy, a vast and increasingly sophisticated army and air force, and a nuclear weapons program that is expected to more than double in the current decade.

NATO helped reduce the risk of war in Europe when the Soviet Union was at the height of its power. A similar concept involving India, the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Philippines, and others could potentially achieve the same in the Indo-Pacific.

Photo: The military helicopters and amphibious assault vehicles attached to a brigade of the army under the PLA Eastern Theater Command conduct coordination in a maritime training exercise on September 4, 2021. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Xie Wenjian)