Australia's foreign minister said she understands Paris' frustration

INTERVIEW.. Marys Payne: We withdrew from the submarine contract with France through an “exit” available in the contract

Australian Foreign Minister.

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Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne confirmed in a press interview that she understands France's frustration with Australia's cancellation of the submarine deal with it, and how her country views the Chinese threat: is it a future threat, a continuing threat, or an imminent threat?

Here are excerpts from the interview:

■ With regard to the cancellation of the French submarine deal, and the criticism of the former Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, against his current successor, Scott Morrison, that canceling it is considered a "deception of the national interests", what is your comment on that?

■■ In fact, I did not listen to the lecture of the former Prime Minister at the National Press Club on this matter.

But I am confident that the decision we have made is an important one to protect our security and prosperity, and to contribute to the stability of our region.

Of course, no one who is not part of those discussions and who is not part of the decision-making process can know - and frankly should not know - the details and depth of considerations into which governments are involved, it must be done in a confidential manner.

■ Well, let's go to the same deal.

Much has been written about that in the past two weeks.

Aside from canceling the deal with France, has the country already signed a contract specifying when the first submarine will be delivered?

■■ What we have agreed under the OCOs arrangements - I think it is important to emphasize that it is a partnership;

It's not a military alliance under these terms - that we start an 18-month process now to plan the acquisition of those submarines.

Again, it's not something that happens overnight either.

With the great goodwill of the three partners - Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States - I am confident that they will have very fruitful discussions and planning.

It is undoubtedly a huge project and we are very prepared for it, our eyes are very open about the requirements.

■ Well, just to be clear, what the Australian government did was cancel a deal with the French government that was written in ink, I mean black and white, on paper, but no new deal was actually signed, right?

■■ We withdrew from a contract relating to a future submarine program with France through an "outlet" provided in that contract.

We will provide any entitlements to which we are legally obligated in this context to the French government and the Naval Group itself.

But the next steps in terms of developing the future nuclear-powered submarine that we will acquire through Operation Okos are yet to be determined.

■ Does this mean that even now at this moment in time, you do not have a solid and proven paper-based future submarine program?

■■ Well, first of all we have to decide which submarine we are going to get, what that operation is, and that is the work that awaits both the Ministry of Defense and the other agencies that are part of this agreement, including the relevant agencies in the UK and the US.

■ Did you get a sub-lease agreement from somewhere in the meantime to bridge the gap?

■■ We have a program and a plan to operate the Collins Class submarines.

This is something defense agencies have been working on for some time.

I am confident that this will provide us with great capacity in the coming years.

But these are all matters that the Department of Defense and the National Security Committee will determine as we move forward with the OCOs arrangement.

■ One of the main reasons for switching to nuclear powered submarines was the power base, and this power base in the Indo-Pacific relates to China.

How do you view the Chinese dilemma at the present time?

Is it a future threat, a continuing threat, or an imminent threat?

■■ I see it in terms of engagement and the nature of the relationship.

My role as Secretary of State is to reassure Australians of our continued commitment to engagement with China.

But we will always be clear and pragmatic in that, and we will always act in Australia's interests.

We must focus on our security, our prosperity and our sovereignty.

We are ready to discuss any disagreements with Beijing at the ministerial and leadership levels, but these offers, frankly, have not been taken up by our counterparts in China.

• “I am confident that the decision we have taken is an important one to protect our security and prosperity.”

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