WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden will meet with two of America’s closest allies to announce that Australia will buy nuclear attack submarines from the U.S. to modernize its fleet amid concerns about China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
Biden traveled Monday to San Diego for talks with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak about the 18-month nuclear partnership that has been given the acronym AUKUS.
The partnership, announced in 2021, would allow Australia access to nuclear-powered submarines, which are stealthier and better than conventionally powered vessels, as a counterbalance to China’s military buildup.
San Diego was Biden’s first stop on a three-day trip to California and Nevada. He will discuss gun violence prevention in the community of Monterey Park, California, and plans to reduce prescription drug costs in Las Vegas. The trip will include fundraising stops while Biden conducts political activities ahead of his expected announcement next month that he will seek re-election in 2024.
Australia is buying up to five Virginia-class vessels as part of AUKUS, according to two people familiar with the arrangement who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the plans. The next generation of submarines will be built in the UK and in Australia with US technology and support.
The US will also promote port visits in Australia to provide the country with more familiarity with nuclear-powered technology before it has its own subs.
Biden will also meet individually with Albanese and Sunak, an opportunity to coordinate Russia’s war strategy in Ukraine, the global economy and more.
The secretive AUKUS deal included the cancellation of a $66 billion Australian government contract for a fleet of French-made conventional submarines, sparking a diplomatic row within the Western alliance that will take months to resolve.
China has argued that the AUKUS agreement violates the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It asserts that the transfer of nuclear weapons material from a nuclear-weapon state to a non-nuclear-weapon state is a “manifest” violation of the spirit of the pact. Australian officials have rejected the criticism, arguing that they are working to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, not nuclear weapons.
“The question is really how China chooses to respond because Australia is not backing down from what it is doing in its own interests here,” said Charles Edel, senior adviser and Australia chair at the Center for International Strategy and Studies. “I think that from Beijing’s perspective, they have seen Australia as a very good middle country. They seem to have gone into the US camp.
Before leaving for California, Biden spoke about the steps the administration is taking to protect depositors and protect them from greater economic distress after the second and third largest bank failures in US history.
Biden said the country’s financial system is safe. He said he would seek to hold those responsible for bank failures accountable, called for better supervision and regulation of larger banks and promised that taxpayers would not foot the bill for the losses.
“The American people can rest assured that the banking system is safe,” Biden said.