Screw the French.
Why should the Aussies buy noisy, unstealthy diesel clunker subs from France when they can get a fleet of quiet, sleek and stealthy nuclear-powered ones from us?
A Smart Submarine Deal With the Aussies
The new partnership serves U.S. interests, despite French howls.
By The Editorial Board
Sept. 16, 2021 6:41 pm ET
President Biden’s deal to deepen the U.S. strategic partnership with Australia and the U.K. as a counterweight to China is being denounced as Trumpian by critics in France. The AUKUS partnership, announced Wednesday, will begin with the joint development of Australian nuclear-powered submarines, as opposed to the diesel-powered subs Paris planned to build for Canberra.
The French intend their Trump references as a slur against Mr. Biden for unpredictability, and the spat with an important European ally is unfortunate. France will lose much of a $39 billion weapons deal, and the French embassy in Washington went so far as to cancel a dinner Friday celebrating the 240th anniversary of French naval assistance in the Revolutionary War. There’s no pique like French pique.
Yet the rise of AUKUS is worth the temporary tension as the U.S. tries to maintain a favorable military balance in the Asia-Pacific. Australia isn’t part of NATO, but the U.S. ally has come under coercive pressure from China. Beijing imposed tariffs on Australian food and raw materials after Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for a probe into the origins of the coronavirus. China has detained Australian citizens and demanded that its elected officials and free press stop criticizing China’s political system.
Credit to Mr. Morrison for not yielding to China’s trade intimidation. One lesson for Beijing is that such tactics in the Asia-Pacific advertise to other countries the treatment in store for them as China’s economic and military reach extends across the globe. Beijing’s strategy is to divide and conquer, and the AUKUS initiative shows Western solidarity.
Focusing on submarines as the first initiative also sends the right message. China’s recent naval buildup has been extraordinary, and Beijing’s stated ambition is to control Taiwan and dominate disputed waters in the Western Pacific.
The eight or more nuclear-powered submarines the U.S. and U.K. will help Australia build are difficult for a hostile navy to detect as they travel long distances for reconnaissance or sea denial. They can remain submerged at high speeds for longer periods than diesel-powered boats, which need to surface periodically to burn fuel. The technology-sharing creates some risk, but the benefits of broadening the defense-industrial base across close allies are significant.
The murmurs that this partnership undermines Five Eyes, the group of English-speaking nations that also includes New Zealand and Canada, don’t wash. Five Eyes is about intelligence sharing, which will continue. Canada doesn’t want nuclear submarines. New Zealand, which has taken a softer line on China than other Five Eyes nations, says it won’t let the Australian subs into its territorial waters.
The U.S. shouldn’t dismiss France’s anger at losing out on a major defense sale. But Australia judged that this is a better deal, and French President Emmanuel Macron has made a point of emphasizing “strategic autonomy” from the U.S., including on China, Russia and Iran.
The message to Europe from AUKUS is that the U.S. is serious about resisting Chinese hegemony in the Asia-Pacific. Europe can’t play China’s game of divide-and-conquer on economic and strategic issues without consequences for its U.S. relationship.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-smart...us-11631830017
