The United States, responding to growing rivalry from China, announced a new alliance Wednesday with Australia and Britain to strengthen naval capabilities in the Indo-Pacific with a new Australian nuclear submarine fleet.
The announcement — made in a video meeting by President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his British counterpart Boris Johnson — was sure to infuriate France, which has been negotiating a multi-billion-dollar sale of conventional submarines to Australia.
France’s Naval Group voiced its ”deep disappointment” at news of the initiative which appeared to pull the rug out from under the French-Australian deal.
Biden said the work to enable Australia to build nuclear-powered submarines would ensure that they had ”the most modern capabilities we need to maneuver and defend against rapidly evolving threats.” Läs artikel