The military partnership announced today between the UK, the US and Australia is a dangerous escalation in the West’s ongoing confrontation with China.
The trilateral deal includes plans to set up an Australian nuclear powered submarine fleet. Talk of a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’ is a thinly disguised threat to China that the three powers are going to contest its influence in the region.
The partnership will involve closer cooperation and integration in regional policy, military operations and weapons development.
Despite its claims to the contrary, many critics of the deal rightly argue that the deal is likely to lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons as the material used in nuclear powered submarines is not monitored under the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty and can easily be diverted to military ends.
Stop the War condemns the new partnership as an unnecessary and provocative step which will heighten tensions with China and increase the possibility of hostilities breaking out in the region. We note that US officials have briefed that the UK government has been pushing hard for strong military involvement in the region as part of its push towards ‘Global Britain’.
