The Security Agreement in the Indo-Pacific Zone, called AUKUS, signed by the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, risks the collapse of the nuclear non-proliferation regime, said Tuesday (January 4). Arms Control Department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry. “We believe that this would be a malicious use of a loophole in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), and if several countries do so, it will mean the collapse of the nuclear non-proliferation regime,” it said. Diplomat during a press point.
For Beijing, the UKUS, and in particular the tripartite agreement to build nuclear submarines, “is a very serious question”. and to explain that “the problem is that if this project is implemented, it would mean that the United States and the United Kingdom, two nuclear powers, would deliver military uranium to Australia, which is not a nuclear power.” “.
The Chinese diplomat also recalled that the current system of guarantees from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) does not allow to verify whether Australia will not use nuclear material to make weapons. Beijing therefore insists on the establishment of a special committee within the IAEA to study the legal, political and technical consequences of the creation of the AUKUS. “China and other countries are very concerned about this trilateral cooperation on nuclear submarines” which “sets a very negative precedent,” Fu Kang said.
Australia signed a defense and security agreement with the United States and the United Kingdom in mid-September. It also announced the termination of a €56 billion contract already signed with the French Naval Group for the delivery of 12 Barracuda diesel-electric powered submarines.
This decision caused outrage in France.
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping recently speculated during their recent telephone talks that the AUKUS agreement was undermining the balance of nuclear power and increasing tensions in the region.
In early December, the United States confirmed that the AUKUS agreement had been signed against China. According to Kurt Campbell, Indo-Pacific Coordinator at the White House, this military alliance, which plans to equip Australia with American technologies to build nuclear-powered submarines, is the only way to claim a US presence in the Indo-Pacific. was created for.
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