China News Agency, Paris, September 16-French Foreign Minister Le Drian and Defense Minister Pali issued a joint statement on the 16th local time, criticizing Australia and the United States for reaching a nuclear submarine cooperation agreement.
The statement said that France took note of Australia's decision on submarine cooperation and reached a nuclear submarine cooperation agreement with the United States.
The statement criticized the agreement for violating the spirit of cooperation previously reached between France and Australia; it also criticized the United States for its related choice to exclude European "partner countries" such as France from the cooperative relationship with Australia.
The United States, Australia and the United Kingdom said earlier that they would establish a security partnership, including helping Australia obtain US nuclear submarine technology.
Australian media and many media around the world said that this means that Australia will no longer fulfill the submarine construction agreement reached earlier with France.
It is understood that Australia decided in 2016 that the French military ship manufacturer "Navy Group" will build its submarine formation to replace its long-term service submarines. The agreement is reported to be worth tens of billions of Australian dollars.
It is reported that Australia asked France to build 12 submarines. These 12 submarines were designed on the basis of French "Barracuda" class nuclear submarines, but they were conventional submarines.
As Australia and the United States reach a nuclear submarine cooperation agreement, Australia is likely to no longer need French-built submarines.
The French Foreign Minister and the Minister of Defense concluded in the joint statement that the US-Australian measures will only strengthen Europe’s pursuit of strategic autonomy. Apart from that, “there is no other credible way to defend the interests and values of all parts of the world, including in the Indo-Pacific. area".
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