Australia, UK defends AUKUS at FPDA, alleges 'overhyping of trilateral pact'

Australia and Britain on Thursday, October 20, defended the strategic AUKUS security alliance amid concerns that the deal might start a nuclear arms race in the Indo-Pacific region. Britain's armed forces minister James Heappey told an online news conference there has been an "overhyping" about the AUKUS trilateral security pact between Australia, the United States and Britain, as he added that the three nations, UK and the US have been involved in sharing such technologies for decades. He also clarified that the subs that Australia purchases from Washington will not be nuclear-armed but will be nuclear reactor powered. 

"There has been a lot of, sort of overhyping of AUKUS," Britain's armed forces minister James Heappey told reporters at a Kuala Lumpur event celebrating the 50th anniversary of a five-way defence pact between Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia. 

“It doesn't in any way reflect a reduction in our friendships with colleagues and allies. It doesn't in any way represent a challenge in your part of the world,” Heappey reportedly added during his address at the Five Powers Defence Arrangements conference. 

Deal 'essential' to counter Chinese militarization

UK’s Armed Forces minister also clarified that the deal was essential to counter Chinese militarization in the Indo pacific region, particularly in the strategically important South China Sea. The pact, however, has left the Southeast Asian countries divided with Indonesia and Malaysia warning that it will trigger an arms race among rival superpowers. The Philippines, a US ally, came out in support of the deal. Australian defence minister, Peter Dutton, said AUKUS would not change the Canberra security strategy, and that the country still will be a reliable partner for its allies. 

"We're not somebody who interferes with the operations of other nations, we are a country which is forthright, and we love providing peace in our region, and that's at the centre of our friends here,” Peter Dutton said at the conference. 

Earlier last month, the UK’s main opposition Labour party's delegates passed the emergency motion against AUKUS by 70.35% to 29.65%. "AUKUS is starting a new nuclear arms race and the cold war. We must keep speaking out against it," former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Twitter. Labour echoed concerns made vocal by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a global nuclear watchdog that issued a statement, saying it was worried over the proliferation of nuclear materials and technologies due to trilateral pact AUKUS. Meanwhile, the trilateral AUKUS deal also faced considerable backlash from China. A Chinese state-run newspaper quoted the PLA military officials as saying that the AUKUS will "potentially make Australia a target of a nuclear strike if a war breaks out" since the US is refraining the island continent from owning ballistic missiles.