US officials readily acknowledge that tensions with Beijing are higher than they have been in years,and recent events – from the dramatic take-down of aChinese spy balloon to President Xi Jinping’s pledge to build his military into a“Great Wall of Steel” – have merely added to fears about the looming threats the country poses.
In a deeply divided Congress,it’s rare for Democrats and Republicans to agree,and yet when it comes to countering China’s rise,both sides of politics are consistently taking a tougher stance. There’s even a joke on Capitol Hill that if you want bipartisan support on anything,try to find a way to tie it with China’s economic and military might – and you’re likely to get it over line.
Indeed,as an increasingly hawkish Biden declared in hisState of the Union address last month:“Let’s be clear:winning the competition with China should unite all of us.”
In that context,AUKUS might represent the “single biggest leap” in Australia’s defence capabilities,but it also represents – to use the president’s words – “an inflection point in history where the hard work of enhancing deterrence and promoting stability is going to affect the prospects of peace for decades to come”.
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For Australia,that hard work begins now. On the upside,if the country does end up with three Virginia-class nuclear submarines within the next decade followed by eight newly developed AUKUS submarines,it will effectively have one of the most powerful navies in the world.
But becoming a bigger player on the world stage will also come at an eye-wateringcost of up to $368 billion by 2055,much of which will be used to upscale America’s industrial shipbuilding base so it can build more Virginia-class submarines to make up for the ones it sells to Australia. Provided,of course,thatUS Congress approves.
China,meanwhile,has angrily responded to AUKUS by accusing the countries involved of going “further down the wrong and dangerous path for their own geopolitical self-interest.”