Global EditionASIA 中文双语Français
World
Home / World / Americas

US, Britain, Australia announce new security partnership

Xinhua | Updated: 2021-09-16 15:48
Share
Share - WeChat
US President Joe Biden delivers remarks on a National Security Initiative virtually with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, inside the East Room at the White House in Washington, US, Sept 15, 2021. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON - The United States, Britain, and Australia announced on Wednesday the creation of a new trilateral security partnership.

US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison made the announcement during a virtual event.

In a joint statement, the three governments said the partnership, called "AUKUS", will help "significantly deepen cooperation on a range of security and defense capabilities".

The first initiative under AUKUS will be delivering a nuclear-powered submarine fleet for Australia and the three countries will spend as many as 18 months discussing how this capability will be delivered, according to the statement.

Australia intends to build the submarines in Adelaide, a coastal city in the country's south, in cooperation with Britain and the United States, Morrison said in his remarks.

"Australia is not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons or establish a civil nuclear capability," he said, vowing to meet all of its nuclear non-proliferation obligations.

Biden and Johnson said the nuclear-powered submarines that Australia wants to acquire are conventionally armed, noting that their countries will also be fully in line with their non-proliferation obligations.

A senior administration official told reporters on Wednesday that AUKUS "is not aimed or about any one country", claiming that "it's about advancing our strategic interests, upholding the international rules-based order, and promoting peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific".

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US