Australia could sacrifice a lot of its sovereign independence in the trilateral security deal with the United States and the United Kingdom, former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans said in a recent interview with China Global Television Network.
In September 2021, the United States, Britain and Australia announced the creation of an enhanced trilateral security partnership called AUKUS, under which the United States and Britain will assist Australia in its acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines.
There have been rising arguments against the submarine deal in Australia, Evans noted, citing concerns over the delivery of submarines, the cost-effectiveness of the deal, and its possible damage to the country's sovereignty.
"The AUKUS submarine issue is becoming more contested in Australia and more controversial. There are very real doubts about whether these submarines are actually ever going to be delivered from the Americans and then by the subsequent process with the British," Evans said.
"Even if we do get eight of these great big beasts in 20, 30, 40 years' time, only two of them can be in the water at any given time. And with our vast continent and maritime surrounds, what is the real value-added? Wouldn't we be better, many people are saying, in developing a larger conventional capability - conventionally powered capability - plus un-crewed, underwater, in-the-air vehicles, cyber-capacity, missile capacity. There's all that argument," he noted.
An argument about sovereign independence is also resonating more and more in Australia, Evans told the CGTN.
"If we get ourselves enmeshed in American military decision-making to the extent that the Americans - I think would like and perhaps expect as a result of making available this incredibly sensitive and sophisticated technology - if we get ourselves enmeshed to the extent that we can't really resist requests from the Americans to join them in any military enterprise in which they might want to engage in the future, then we will have sacrificed a lot of our sovereign independence. And that's not where most Australians, I think, want to go. It's a real issue and it's becoming a real issue for debate in Australia. I personally think we can spend our money much more wisely," he said.
Australia could sacrifice sovereignty in AUKUS submarine deal: former foreign minister
