5 days ago
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Trump Can Launch the Aukus Security Agreement to the Stars
Time has borne out what I said to President Trump on the White House South Lawn in September 2019: While Australia may look to the U.S. as a vital ally, we will never leave it to America alone to deal with security issues. In that spirit, in early 2020 as prime minister I assigned a small team to engage Washington about the possibility of Australia acquiring nuclear-powered submarine technology. Two years later the Aukus agreement among Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. was born, amid bipartisan support in all three nations. Now, it's time for Aukus to grow, and Mr. Trump is the right person for the job.
Aukus is a platform for collective deterrence against an axis of autocratic regimes threatening global and regional security, especially in the Indo-Pacific. The agreement's first pillar enables Australia's acquisition of its first nuclear-powered sub fleet. Its second pillar facilitates cooperation on advanced military capabilities, from quantum computing to hypersonic missiles. The Chinese Communist Party opposed Aukus vehemently—confirming its strategic value.
