New Australia Nuclear Submarine Deal To Have Little Impact In UK-France Relations- Analyst

LONDON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th September, 2021) The new trilateral pact inked between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States that will see the Royal Australian Navy receive a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines instead of the diesel-electric ships previously agreed with France will not largely affect Anglo-French relations, professor Alex de Ruyter, a political economist at Birmingham City University, told Sputnik on Thursday.

"I don't see this having much impact on Anglo-French relations in the grand scheme of things. The two countries are closely linked in military and security terms and so it is likely that symbiotic relationship will not be changing any time soon," the analyst, who is also director of the university's Center for Brexit Studies, said.

On Wednesday evening, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison together with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Joe Biden declared the formation of the new AUKUS defense and security partnership, "which will protect and defend our shared interests in the Indo-Pacific."

The first initiative under the AUKUS alliance will be the creation of nuclear-powered submarine technology for the Royal Australian Navy, so the Australian government decided to abandon the $66-billion agreement reached with the French company of Naval Group for the construction of diesel-electric submarines.

The decision prompted an angry reaction from France, with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian branding it as a "stab in the back" from its allies and accusing Canberra of betraying the mutual trust between the countries.

Although China has already warned that the new pact will threaten stability in the region and fuel the arms race, de Ruyter said that this security partnership will make very little difference to the actual balance of power in the Asia-Pacific.

"I think it is largely about showing that the US and close allies are committed to Australia and there will be some ramifications in terms of military trade," he added.

The analyst argued that "in terms of actual military prowess, both the UK and Australia are minnows relative to the US and Chinese behemoths" and neither really have the capacity to mount significant military operations independent of the US.

Addressing the UK Parliament on Thursday, Johnson tried to appease the French as he claimed that London's relationship with France "is rock solid," but for the Birmingham City University professor, the prime minister's political optics of his Indo-Pacific tilt, "as with much else, have always trumped the actual reality on the ground."