By Voon Miaw Ping
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 (NNN-Bernama) — The trilateral security partnership involving Australia, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US), also known as AUKUS, is aimed towards maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific, said UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.
Truss, who was in Malaysia earlier this week, said AUKUS is important, in addition to other security agreements that the UK has with other countries internationally, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the Five Power Defence Agreements (FPDA).
AUKUS, announced by US President Joe Biden on Sept 15, will allow for, among others, greater sharing of defence capabilities, including helping to equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.
Initial efforts of the partnership will also focus on cooperation on cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and undersea capabilities, which many observers see (the new security pact) as aimed at countering China’s rising presence in the Indo-Pacific region.
“This is about working with our friends and partners across the world to maintain a free and open Indo- Pacific and to protect our security,” Truss said in an interview with Bernama during her visit, here, on Monday.
The UK Foreign Secretary is on her maiden week-long working tour to three Southeast Asian countries – Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia – to deepen economic links and boost security cooperation.
“The way we see, AUKUS is about making sure that our Australian partners have the capabilities they need to keep their country secure. But also working together in areas like cyber, for example,” she added.
Under the new alliance, Australia will purchase eight state-of-the-art nuclear powered – but not nuclear-armed – submarines from the US or the UK, discarding its Future Submarine Programme (FSP) with France that will have provided the country with diesel powered submarines.
The AUKUS deal is reportedly costing France approximately €56 billion (US$64.2 billion) in lost revenue.
Formation of the AUKUS have sparked concern among some countries, including Malaysia, that it could provoke other powers to act more aggressively in the region, especially in the highly contested South China Sea.
Truss also said the UK is very keen for its defence agreements with other partners to be strengthened.
“So what we want to do is work with our friends and partners across the world to make sure there is a strong security ties. Malaysia is very important Commonwealth partner, as is Australia. And in fact, we will work together as part of the five power agreement (FPDA),” she said.
Malaysia and the UK are members of FPDA, along with Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. FPDA celebrated its 50th anniversary last month.
— NNN-BERNAMA