[The Epoch Times, February 03, 2023] (The Epoch Times reporter Chen Guang compiled a report in Sydney, Australia) Australian Prime Minister Albanese is expected to introduce Australia in detail with US President Biden and British Prime Minister Sunak in the United States next month The preferred option for the AUKUS nuclear- powered submarine program, which would boost the three allies’ prospects for new submarine designs.
Details of the high-profile event by the leaders of Australia, Britain and the United States have yet to be confirmed publicly, but it is expected to be held in the United States to fit President Biden’s schedule, the ABC reported.
The current sitting of the Federal Parliament has excluded the second week of March, meaning Albanese can easily travel between March 10 and 19.
A person familiar with the matter told the ABC, “Sunak and Albanese are both willing to go to the announcement conference, but it is difficult for the US president to leave his country at present.”
In September 2021, the former Morrison government of Australia signed the historic “Australia, Britain and the United States Tripartite Security Partnership Agreement” (AUKUS) with the United States and the United Kingdom, paving the way for Australia to obtain urgently needed nuclear confidential technology from the United States and the United Kingdom.
According to the agreement, the United States and Britain will help Australia build eight nuclear- powered submarines to replace the Australian Navy’s aging Collins-class submarine fleet. In addition, the three countries will also share advanced defense technology and intelligence.
The Australia-UK-U.S. trilateral security partnership agreement has been widely interpreted by the outside world as a sign that the three allies are taking substantive actions to counter the CCP’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region. But Washington is increasingly concerned about constraints within the US submarine industry and its ability to support Australia’s acquisition of its own nuclear-powered submarines.
Defense Minister Richard Marles said this week that Australia had proposed a “truly trilateral” solution involving the United States and Britain, which he said would be forthcoming.
“It’s really a true trilateral effort that looks at the ability of the UK and the US to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines,” he told the ABC.
Albanese’s office declined to comment for this story.