Bangkok (AP)-The Minister of Defense of Australia on Thursday rejected the concern that a deal between the US, Australia and Great Britain to provide his country with nuclear driven submarines could be in danger, after a report that the Pentagon had ordered an assessment.
The Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles told Sky News Australia that he was aware of the assessment of the deal “for some time”, saying that it was a “very natural step for the incoming administration.”
He noted that the British government also assessed the deal, the center of a three -way alliance that is known as Aukus after it was chosen, and that his own government had viewed it as part of its own assessment of the entire defense attitude of Australia.
“I think an incoming government that looks at this is something that they have a perfect right to do and we welcome it and we will work with it,” he said.
The deal, worth more than $ 200 billion, was signed between the three countries in 2021 under President Joe Biden, designed to offer Australia, one of the avid allies of Washington in the region, with greater maritime capacities to combat the increasingly strong navy of China.
The deal also means that the US sells various submarines in Virginia class to Australia to bridge the gap while the new submarines are being built together.
In January, Australia made the first of six $ 500 million payments to the US under the Aukus deal, intended to strengthen American submarine production.
Marles met the American Minister of Defense Pete Hegseeth on the sidelines of a defense conference in Singapore less than two weeks ago and then told reporters that he had gone away with “a sense of trust about the way Aukus continues.”
“Aukus is on schedule and we meet all the timelines that are associated with it,” he said. “We are very optimistic.”
The address of Hegseeth on the Defense Forum, however, made several mention of cooperation with Australia, but no reference to Aukus, although he later mentioned the deal when he accepted questions.
Hegseeth insisted on allies in the Indo-Pacific to increase their defense expenditure and underlined the need for a “strong, determined and capable network of allies and partners” while the US wants to combat China.
