As part of a three-way pact with the USA and Great Britain, Australia had agreed to build nuclear-powered submarines and canceled a € 56 billion contract from 2016 for the purchase of French submarines. France therefore called its ambassadors from the USA and Australia home for deliberations.
Macron’s phone call with Biden is planned for the next few days, it was said on Sunday from the Élysée Palace in Paris. The date and time have not yet been determined.
France sees the failure of its billions in submarine sales to Australia not only as a business setback, but also as a burden on NATO and a challenge for the EU. As part of a three-way pact with the USA and Great Britain, Australia had agreed to build nuclear-powered submarines and canceled a 56 billion euro contract from 2016. France therefore called its ambassadors from the USA and Australia home for deliberations.
“There were lies, there was duplicity, there was a strong breach of trust,” said Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Saturday on France 2. “In a real alliance, you talk to each other and respect each other. That was not the case.” This also puts a strain on NATO’s new strategic concept, which should be discussed at the next summit in Madrid in 2022. With the exception of Australia, all parties involved belong to the western alliance.
One must now also question the strength of the alliance with the USA, said Le Drian. Europe must better protect its interests after the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban and the submarine dispute. “If the Europeans do not realize that they have to band together and defend their interests together if they want to remain part of history, then their fate will be completely different. And we cannot go in this harmful direction.”
US President Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had announced a new alliance against “rapidly evolving threats”, which was apparently directed against China. This includes the swing of Australia to the procurement of nuclear powered submarines with the help of the two partners. France would have supplied boats powered by diesel and electricity.
Great Britain defended the new Triple Alliance. “Freedoms must be defended, so we are building strong security relationships around the world,” said the new Foreign Minister Liz Truss in the “Telegraph” (Sunday). In addition to nuclear submarines, Australia and the USA also want to expand the military use of artificial intelligence. The US government had previously made it clear that it wanted to settle tensions with France.
Malaysia warned on Saturday that the arms pact could trigger a nuclear arms race in the Indo-Pacific. In a telephone conversation with Morrison, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob also pointed out the agreement on a nuclear weapons-free zone in Southeast Asia, reported the Malaysian news agency Bernama.
The fear of an arms race with nuclear weapons arises from the fact that the nuclear technology infrastructure for submarines does not come under the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). This could be used to secretly divert material for atomic bombs. In 50 years this loophole has never been exploited, said James Acton of the peace research institute Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to the journal “Breaking Defense”. Other states could follow Australia’s example and not be so reluctant to do so, for example Iran.
Experts expect that Australia will need ten to 20 years to build the submarines because the country does not have a nuclear technology infrastructure or nuclear experts. Australia could rely on technology from the American Virginia-class and British Astute-class submarines.
