Cambodia's Prime Minister Says NATO, AUKUS Becoming Concern For ASEAN Region

The growing presence of the nuclear-possessing NATO and AUKUS military alliances is becoming a concern for the nuclear-free region of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has said

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th June, 2023) The growing presence of the nuclear-possessing NATO and AUKUS military alliances is becoming a concern for the nuclear-free region of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has said.

"NATO has always been based in the West, but now it seems to be moving toward the ASEAN ... Moreover, AUKUS, a small alliance of nuclear submarines, is also becoming a concern for the ASEAN and countries in the region because ASEAN is a nuclear weapon-free zone, and we oppose nuclear proliferation," Hun Sen said in a commencement address at the Royal University of Law and Economics on Monday.

Coupled with tensions in the South China Sea, the presence of nuclear-possessing military alliances in the region could become a "starting point of a very dangerous arms race," the official said.

The AUKUS trilateral partnership was launched in September 2021 between Australia, the UK and the US based on the premise that the latter two would provide Canberra with the technology to obtain its own nuclear-capable submarines.