The 'AUKUS' Treaty Unsettles the World

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Australia, the UK and the US have signed a new defence and security pact, the "AUKUS" treaty, angering France while clearly targeting China.

Per Olsson Socialist Justice Party (ISA Sweden)

The British "Economist" magazine commented on September 17 that the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom reached a new defense agreement "AUKUS" (Australia-UK-US alliance, the name consists of the abbreviations of the three countries)

“It’s about putting geopolitics — in order to counter the rise of China — over sensitive issues like nuclear non-proliferation.”

According to the original text, there is only one historical analogy to this:

"In 2005, the United States reached a civilian nuclear agreement with India, just eight years after India, which resisted the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, conducted a nuclear weapons test."

The "AUKUS" agreement, announced on September 15, is aimed at targeting China, escalating the crisis of the increasingly bitter cold war between the imperialist powers.

Things have changed dramatically since Chinese leader Xi Jinping was greeted with a standing ovation when he addressed the Australian parliament in 2014. At the time, Chinese capitalism was seen not only as a lifesaver for Australia, but also as a lifeline for other Western countries. But it turns out that the interests of power, political and military relations trump economic relations. Although China has been Australia's largest market since 2007, the trade war between China and Australia has intensified since last year.

Power politics, nationalism and militarism now dominate, and the focus is on who and which imperialist powers will establish Indo-Pacific hegemony and become the dominant force in the 21st century. Geopolitically known as the Indo-Pacific region, it covers almost the entire sea from the east coast of Africa to the Pacific and India - 44% of the Earth's area and 65% of the population. According to the Swedish Institute of International Affairs:

"The region simultaneously accounts for 62 percent of world GDP and 46 percent of all merchandise trade."

Most importantly, the "AUKUS" agreement means the further militarization of this hegemony. With the assistance of British and American technology, Australia will build at least eight new nuclear-powered submarines equipped with Tomahawk missiles. Only once in history has the United States shared its nuclear-powered submarine technology—the United States shared this technology with the United Kingdom 63 years ago. This alone is enough to prove the importance that US imperialism attaches to this alliance. The Biden administration is now meeting the challenge of China with war preparations, and there may be more similar agreements in the future.

Only six nations currently have nuclear-powered submarines, and when Australia becomes the seventh nation, it will:

"For the first time, Australia is given a strategic deterrence and attack capability. The logical area to deploy these submarines would be the deep waters of the Western Pacific (near Taiwan)."

On September 16, Li Ximing, the former chief of staff of the Taiwan Armed Forces and a hawkish admiral, told the Financial Times.

"AUKUS" was negotiated in secret and created a crisis for Western imperialism, especially in relations between the three signatories of the treaty and France.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian described the agreement as a "backstab" and claimed: "We have been humiliated ." Last week, France recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia in a rare move.

When Australia decided to renege on its pact to buy 12 diesel-powered submarines from France and instead build nuclear-powered submarines using American and British technology, French imperialism not only lost a huge order worth $66 billion (€56 billion), but also cost France The imperialists were particularly disturbed by the fact that France was not recognized as a great power and an important ally.

French imperialism has long been present in the Indo-Pacific region through its so-called overseas territories, to which it has gradually shifted its focus for over a decade.

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies:

“France’s economic links with the Indo-Pacific region have grown considerably over the past few years. More than a third of French exports to non-EU countries go to the region. In 2018, French direct investment reached 320 billion euros, more than A 75% increase in 2008. There are more than 7,000 French subsidiaries in the region, with a 40% increase in revenue between 2010 and 2016. This connection with the Indo-Pacific is accompanied by a considerable military deployment. For the French Ministry of Defense For example, the Indo-Pacific is divided into several areas of responsibility, with 8,000 soldiers and dozens of warships pre-positioned at several bases."

In May 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron first described France as an "Indo-Pacific power" while pushing the EU to develop a "strategic engagement with the region".

With the shadow of a new cold war hanging over the world, even if China's authoritarian government is under severe pressure, it will still respond to the "AUKUS" agreement. We cannot rule out that this fight will also be brought to the COP26 summit. There are no winners in the Cold War. The two rival imperialist powers, the United States and China, will see themselves as only temporary setbacks. Therefore, the struggle for world domination will continue to make the world less safe and more dangerous.

The potential threat posed by the AUKUS agreement reflects the urgent need to unite all the oppressed around the world and oppose imperialism and capitalism in order to move towards and build a peaceful and free socialist world.