“The United States is cheering on the progress made in allowing Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines ‘as soon as possible’.” The British “Guardian” reported on this topic on February 4 that US Secretary of Defense Austin claimed that the United States and Australia Made “significant progress” on the “Ocus Agreement”. However, the content of this “progress” was not clearly stated in the report.
According to the report, Austin and the visiting Australian Defense Minister Mars met in Washington on the 3rd and discussed topics such as the “Ocus Agreement” between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, and regional security. Significant progress has been made in developing the best path for the Powered Submarine Capabilities. Mars also tweeted the same day, calling it a “fantastic meeting.”
However, netizens have different opinions on the “Ocus agreement” praised by the two. Some people expressed congratulations under Mars’ above tweet, but some netizens expressed dissatisfaction, “We are tired of being a poor vassal state of the United States. They cause more problems than any potential benefits, and they use Australia to satisfy their own greed And the military complex. Cancel the useless submarine deal and instead invest in Australia.”
According to previous reports from the US and Australian media, British Prime Minister Sunak and Australian Prime Minister Albanese will go to Washington in mid-March to announce the plan of the UK and the US to help Australia build nuclear-powered submarines with US President Biden. Australian media believes that this has raised the expectation that the three allies will participate in the design of new submarines. Chen Hong, director of the Australian Studies Center of East China Normal University, said in an interview with the Global Times reporter on the 3rd of this month that Australia itself does not need nuclear submarines for national defense. If proceeding from its own actual interests, Australia should strengthen economic, trade and cultural exchanges with China and maintain political friendship with China.
Regarding the “Ocus Agreement” between Australia, Britain and the United States, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning stated on the 3rd of this month that the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia have decided to carry out and continue to promote nuclear submarine cooperation, which poses a serious risk of nuclear proliferation, intensifies the arms race, and undermines regional peace. China is seriously concerned about this and firmly opposes it. The relevant cooperation among the three countries has also aroused more and more international concerns. China urges the United States, Britain, and Australia to heed the voice of the international community, earnestly fulfill their nuclear non-proliferation obligations, revoke their decision to carry out nuclear submarine cooperation, and take concrete actions to maintain regional and world peace and security.
source: sohu
