Australian PM announces construction of new submarine base
The 'HMAS Waller' submarine leaves Sydney Harbor on May 4, 2020 (illustrative image).
REUTERS - Reuters Photographer
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
In Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison took advantage of a speech at the
Lowy Institute,
a think tank specializing in geopolitics in the Asia-Pacific region, on Monday March 7 to announce the construction of a new submarine base on the east coast of Australia.
the island-continent, intended to accommodate the future nuclear submarines that Canberra intends to acquire within the framework of the Aukus alliance, within which it is associated with London and Washington.
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With our correspondent in Sydney,
Grégory Plesse
Being able to deploy quickly in the Indian Ocean and in the Pacific Ocean is the objective sought through the construction of a second submarine base on the east coast, announced Monday by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison .
“
The creation of a new submarine base on the east coast will increase our strategic deterrence capabilities
,” he said during an intervention at the
Lowy Institute
.
This new base, whose exact location will be determined by the end of 2023, will be added to the existing one on the west coast, located near Perth.
However, the first nuclear submarines, preferred last September to conventional submersibles that
France was to supply Australia
, will not be launched before at least 2040.
New axis of evil
This is why many in the opposition see in this announcement a simple media stunt, only a few weeks before the next federal election.
Scott Morrison, for his part, drew a parallel between the behavior of Russia in Ukraine and that of China in the Indo-Pacific, grouping the two superpowers into a whole reminiscent of the axis of evil defined by George W. Bush twenty years ago. earlier.
"
A new arc of autocracy is aligning itself to challenge and reshape the world order according to their own image...
", thus denounced Scott Morrison.
He also considered that
China was the country best placed to stop the war in Ukraine
but regretted that, until now, Beijing had chosen to support Moscow rather than oppose it.
"
The current crisis in Europe puts China in a moment of choice
," he added.
Scott Morrison called on China to put pressure on its Russian ally and to prove that it is committed to world peace and the principle of sovereignty.
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