On Wednesday, the United States, Britain and Australia launched a security partnership in the Indo-Pacific region called Ocos, for its part, criticized China for what it called the mentality of the Cold War and called on the three countries to move away from ideological bias.
Under OCOS, the United States will provide Australia with technology and capabilities to enable it to deploy nuclear-powered submarines.
Senior US administration officials said that this partnership comes in light of the growing Chinese influence in the region.
US President Joe Biden has made it clear that the Ocos defense initiative with Britain and Australia will enable these countries to obtain the latest capabilities to maneuver and repel rapidly evolving threats, and will enable the three countries to maintain and expand their military capabilities.
For his part, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the launch of a tripartite defense partnership with the United States and Australia aims to work hand in hand to maintain security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
nuclear ambition
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that his country has canceled a huge contract it had with France in 2016 to buy conventional submarines, because it preferred to build with the help of the United States and Britain nuclear-powered submarines.
Morrison added that his country does not seek to acquire nuclear weapons or establish a civilian nuclear capability, and will continue its commitments to non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
He also said Australia would also receive US Tomahawk cruise missiles.
In the same context, the Australian Prime Minister extended, Thursday, to Chinese President Xi Jinping an "open invitation" for dialogue.
Morrison reiterated his willingness to hold talks with Xi, even though high-level talks between the two countries are frozen, and tension between them is growing.
After announcing that his country would receive nuclear-powered submarines and Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles from the United States, Morrison told reporters in Canberra, "There is an open invitation to President Xi to discuss other issues."
In response to these developments, the Chinese embassy in Washington said the United States, Britain and Australia should "get rid of their Cold War mentality and ideological bias."
Embassy spokesman Liu Bingyu stressed that these countries "should not form exclusionary blocs that target or harm the interests of other parties. The most important thing they should do is get rid of the Cold War mentality and ideological bias."