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Aukus alliance
OpinionComment
Daryl Guppy
Daryl Guppy

Opinion | Aukus’ real threat to Asean is not nuclear-powered submarines, but dreams of Western empire

  • Contrary to regional concerns, the US and UK helping Australia build nuclear-powered submarines does not pose a material threat
  • What is dangerous, amid US, UK and European naval operations in the South China Sea, is the imperial longing that drives Aukus

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Peter Dutton, then Australian defence minister, speaks at a press conference at HMAS Stirling, a Royal Australian Navy base in Perth, on October 29, 2021. Since September 2021, Australia, the UK and the US have entered a trilateral security partnership called Aukus. Photo: EPA-EFE
Daryl Guppy
A year ago, the Aukus agreement was announced. The security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States came as a surprise to Australians and is viewed as an unpleasant development by Association of Southeast Asian Nations members.
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It reflected Australia’s desire to see imperial re-engagement with the region. It supported the dreams of empire favoured by then UK prime minister Boris Johnson. It slotted comfortably into US President Joe Biden’s hegemonic narrative which interprets the global rules-based order as an instrument of American foreign policy.

Aukus raises two important issues. The most contentious is the planned acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines. The less obvious issue is the desire to return to an Anglo domination of the Asean region.
Indonesia is particularly concerned about the proliferation of military nuclear weapons – and make no mistake, a submarine is a weapon. The issue of proliferation is different from the issue of arms control by existing nuclear-capable powers. Proliferation is about the expansion of nuclear powers within the region and the potential to destabilise the existing balance.

There is no question that Aukus aims to upset this balance and several countries see this as a first step towards a broader nuclear capability. In its submission to the United Nations review of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, Indonesia formally raised its concern that the sharing of nuclear technology for military purposes could lead to the “emergence of new types of weapons of mass destructions derived from the combination of nuclear materials and conventional weapons”.

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Malaysia has expressed disquiet at multiple levels, with both the prime minister and foreign minister raising concerns that Aukus could “potentially spark tension among the world superpowers, and aggravate aggression between them in the region”.

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