The tripartite agreement between Washington, Canberra and London was seen as a response to the growing Chinese military capabilities

A dispute between France and America over the sale of submarines to Australia

The French president and the prime minister of Australia at a Sydney port plus other officials in 2018. Getty

On September 15, 2021, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Joe Biden announced in a joint statement a tripartite security partnership called AUXS. The most important item in this partnership was the US pledge to provide Australia with the technology to build eight nuclear-powered submarines (but without nuclear weapons), the only other country to have obtained this technology from America is the United Kingdom. The tripartite statement stressed that this agreement came in order to "maintain security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region."

Although none of the three leaders mentioned China by name, this agreement was seen as a response to China's growing military capabilities. Therefore, it was not surprising that Beijing condemned and rejected the security agreement, describing it as “excessively irresponsible.” China was not the only country that did not like this agreement, as France expressed its strong anger, because this agreement led to the cancellation of an agreement worth 37 billion A dollar contract with Australia in 2016 to build about 12 diesel-electric submarines. As a result, Paris recalled its ambassadors from Canberra and Washington, an unprecedented step in bilateral relations between Paris and both countries. US President Joe Biden admitted that the announcement of the security partnership agreement was "clumsy", while France took advantage of the event to pressure the European Union to act independently of the United States on international issues.Doubts remain focused on whether the new Australian submarines will be built or not, as they were very expensive, while their operation will not be for more than 12 years.

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