Asia is excited about Australian nuclear submarines

Immediately after the US, UK and Australia announced the establishment of the AUKUS security alliance, with a focus on a technological support agreement for Australia to build a fleet of 8 nuclear-powered submarines, countries in the East region

Although Canberra has made it clear that it has no intention of equipping new submarines with nuclear weapons, which will come into operation after 2040, Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob still expressed concern that this development could be money-making.

`At the same time, it will provoke other powers to act more decisively in the region, especially in the East Sea,` Prime Minister Yaakob said on September 18, after a phone call with his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison.

A day earlier, Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s most populous country and Australia’s closest neighbor, also raised similar concerns.

Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry said the country was `deeply concerned` about the risk of an arms race and power projection in the region, calling on Australia to maintain its commitment to peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific.

Australia’s special envoy to ASEAN Will Nankervis yesterday sought to ease these concerns, emphasizing that this agreement is `not a treaty or defense alliance` and does not change Australia’s commitment to ASEAN.

Collins class submarines of the Royal Australian Navy.

Nankervis also affirmed that Australia is part of a `rules-based maritime order`, promoting countries’ compliance with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and that `partnership, cooperation and

The Australian High Commissioners to Malaysia and Singapore reshared Nankervis’s statement on Twitter.

Justin Lee, Australia’s special envoy to Malaysia, said the bilateral relationship between Canberra and Kuala Lumpur `has never been stronger than it is now` and that the agreement with the US and UK is only intended to `support stability and security`.

However, according to some diplomatic analysts, countries in the region have absolutely no reason to worry about Australia’s submarine deal, because Canberra is not a member of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which requires

`Many countries in the region believe that there is no way a country that buys nuclear-powered submarines would not consider owning nuclear weapons in the future,` Southeast Asia observer James Chin said on December 20.

Leaders of Australia, the US and the UK in an online press conference announcing the agreement on September 15.

ASEAN is already worried about the fierce competition between the US and China in the region, and now the Australia-US-UK submarine agreement further reinforces the assertion that `ASEAN members’ views on superpowers are

Natalie Sambhi, executive director of military research group Verve Research, meanwhile said that Jakarta may be particularly concerned about Beijing’s reaction to the submarine deal.

`It could push China to develop more sophisticated anti-submarine options and expand its maritime operating area. Both of these would worry not only Jarkata but many other Southeast Asian countries as well.`

Meanwhile, many Asian countries have not expressed their opinions on the submarine agreement that is said to be able to `change the game` in this region.

Barry O’Farrell, Australia’s ambassador to New Delhi, said the highest officials in the country’s government consulted with India before announcing the trilateral submarine agreement on September 16.

Singapore, the US’s strategic security partner in the region, also did not voice opposition to the agreement.

Vu Hoang (According to SCMP)