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Aukus alliance

Aukus alliance
The United States, Britain and Australia announced a security pact, dubbed the "Aukus" alliance, in September 2021, which includes an agreement to help Canberra secure a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. The move was seen as targeted at China, and has caused anger in France and India.
US Navy officers stand aboard the Virginia-class submarine USS Minnesota docked at HMAS Stirling in Rockingham, Western Australia, on February 26, 2025. Australia aims to acquire at least three US Virginia-class submarines. Photo: AFP
Australia

Australia ramps up Aukus funding with US$3.2 billion for nuclear submarine yard

Aukus, designed to check China’s military advance in the Indo-Pacific, is expected to cost Canberra up to US$250 billion over 30 years.

US-China relations

Asia defence spending

China-South Korea relations

How will South Korea’s nuclear submarines alter balance near first island chain?

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Asean

Opinion | Why China’s warning over military blocs is finding listeners in Asia

For regional governments, strategy is about preserving options. China has read this instinct carefully and given it a diplomatic vocabulary.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Diplomacy

Opinion | 122 years on, Mackinder’s ‘heartland’ remains geopolitically decisive

Conflicts in Ukraine and Iran have returned strategic focus to the idea of Eurasia as central to the global power contest, challenging the viability of the Indo-Pacific pivot.

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Australia

Australia signs US$7 billion Japan warship deal to boost firepower against China

The formalised deal offers Canberra a strategic alternative to uncertain US defence ties, analysts say.

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Taiwan

Opinion | What the Iran war reveals about Nato’s appetite for conflict over Taiwan

Resistance to a war started without European consent makes clear the alliance’s limits. The US can’t count on Nato support for a war in Asia.

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Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte meeting US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 21. Photo: AFP
Australia

Albanese says Australian troops were on board US sub that sank Iranian ship

The prime minister said the military personnel were on the vessel as part of training arrangements under the Aukus deal.

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Australia

Australia unveils billions for nuclear submarines under Aukus security pact

The vessels, under agreement with the UK and the US, are at the heart of a major strategy to improve long-range strike capabilities.

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Canada

‘Devil’s in the details’: why Asia may not sign up to Canada’s alliance call

While Canadian PM Mark Carney’s vision appeals to many, analysts say a lack of detail and divergent interests make a unified front unlikely.

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Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last month. Photo: TNS
China-Australia relations

China vows to step in if Australia moves to regain control of Darwin Port

Envoy Xiao Qian says Beijing ‘has the obligation to take measures’ if the port, leased to China for 99 years, is taken back.

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Chinese ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian says the Darwin Port issue should be “properly managed” to show that Australia welcomes Chinese investment. Photo: EPA-EFE
United States

Not ‘Trump-compatible’? China expert Rudd exits Australia’s US ambassador role

Kevin ‌Rudd left his post a year ‍earlier than planned following criticism from US President Donald Trump at White House meeting in October.

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Australia

Why US review of Aukus submarine deal for Australia is kept secret

One reason is to maintain public support for the alliance by preventing any shortfalls of the deal from being made known, analysts say.

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United States

Rubio and Hegseth discuss Indo-Pacific security with Australian counterparts

At the talks, Rubio hailed cooperation between the US and Canberra on critical minerals, defence production and troop deployments.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth at the State Department in Washington on Monday. Photo: Reuters
Australia

Aukus deal to move ‘full steam ahead’ after surviving Trump review

The Pentagon said the five-month evaluation ‘identified opportunities to put Aukus on the strongest possible footing’.

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A US Navy’s Virginia-class submarine is docked at a naval base in Western Australia in February. Photo: AFP
United States

Opinion | Devil in the details as US agrees to a South Korean nuclear-powered sub

Will the Australian experience be shared? Will it be a Virginia-class vessel or an indigenous design? And where will funding come from?

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US-China relations

Modelling of Taiwan war shows US could recruit Australia, Japan for sanctions

‘Sanctions alone are unlikely to deter’ Beijing but economic tools should be part of ‘broader contingency planning’, Rand says.

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South Korea

Trump says South Korea has approval to build nuclear-powered submarine

The technology is widely regarded as some of the most sensitive and highly guarded information the US military possesses.

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US Navy officers stand aboard the Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Minnesota in Rockingham, Australia, in February. Photo: AFP
Australia

Australia scores big win in US with critical minerals deal, Aukus commitment

The allies will invest US$1 billion in various critical minerals projects in a bid to cut their reliance on dominant supplier China.

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US-China relations

Trump denying China risk may leave Taiwan as bargaining chip

President Donald Trump’s suggestion that China is unlikely to invade Taiwan may put the US stance towards the island on the table in trade talks with President Xi Jinping.

US-China relations

Pentagon nominee hints at Aukus changes, says Taiwan should ‘pay its way’

US pick for Indo-Pacific security role tells senators that he strongly supports President Donald Trump’s ‘America first’ foreign policy.

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Australia has agreed to buy at least three Virginia-class submarines from the US under the Aukus agreement, which is currently under review in Washington. Photo: AFP
Australia

Aukus faces an ‘America first’ review. Will Trump’s agenda scupper the deal?

Australia’s huge financial commitment to the Aukus pact may work in its favour, but Trump’s deal-making approach means anything is possible.

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US Navy officers stand aboard a Virginia-class fast-attack submarine docked at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia on February 26. Australia is set to spend US$7.9 billion to upgrade shipyard facilities for a future fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. Photo: AFP
Japan

‘A logical next step’: why the US is backing Japan’s entry into Aukus

With its advanced defence technology, Japan can complement the US, the UK and Australia in the development of attack submarines.

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War and conflict

Opinion | Multipolar arms race takes ballistic missile threat to new levels

Cold War-era bilateral arms control treaties simply won’t work as more states emerge with deterrent capabilities, complicating calculations.

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United States

Biden adviser warns Trump against scrapping Aukus pact with Australia

A critic of the deal will lead the Pentagon’s assessment of the collaboration this autumn to ensure it aligns with Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda.

A Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine that Australia will acquire starting in the early 2030s through the Aukus deal. Photo: US Navy
Pacific nations

‘We must invest’: New Zealand seeks to shed its ‘pretty slack’ defence image

Analysts suggest Wellington’s new US$5.2 billion defence plan is a hedge against pressure from Donald Trump’s White House.

A New Zealand soldier stands guard during a ceremony in Wellington marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I in 2018. Photo: AFP
Australia

Japan wins US$6 billion deal to give Australia ‘a more lethal navy’

Australia’s deal for 11 new stealth frigates from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries marks its ‘biggest-ever’ defence agreement with Japan.

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US-China relations

Asian military spending

The US is urging its Asia-Pacific allies to raise defence spending because of a perceived ‘imminent’ threat from China, particularly against Taiwan.

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