U.S. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak deliver remarks on the Australia- United Kingdom- U.S. (AUKUS) partnership, after a trilateral meeting, at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego, California U.S. on March 13, 2023. Leah Millis/Reuters
Published April 25, 2024
China says it firmly opposes foreign military alliances targeting it and stoking bloc confrontation.
China has expressed “grave concern” about the possibility of Japan joining the AUKUS security pact, saying it would undermine peace and stability in the region and the world.
A spokesperson at China’s defense ministry said on Thursday that China was open to normal military cooperation between countries but “we firmly oppose relevant countries cobbling together exclusive groupings.”
North Korea, meanwhile, said the United States has made “reckless moves” to involve Japan to “frantically expand its alliance sphere without limits.”
Australia, the United Kingdom and the U.S. formed the AUKUS defense and security partnership in 2021 in an effort to stand up to China’s growing power in the region.
China has repeatedly criticized AUKUS as stoking “bloc-to-bloc confrontation”.
The United States has also sought to step up partnerships with allies in Asia, including Japan and the Philippines, in the face of China’s military build-up and its growing territorial assertiveness.
Japan has yet to explicitly announce its participation in AUKUS but a joint statement released after U.S. President Joe Biden met Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida this month said that the AUKUS partners “are considering cooperation with Japan” in certain projects.
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SOURCE: www.rfa.org
RELATED: N. Korea says expansion of AUKUS will turn Asia-Pacific region into ‘nuclear minefield’
North Korea conducts a tactical drill simulating a nuclear counterattack by super-large multiple rocket units in this photo released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, April 22. Yonhap
Published April 25, 2024
North Korea on Thursday criticized the United States, Britain and Australia’s move to expand their AUKUS security partnership to more countries, warning that the move will only turn the Asia-Pacific region into a “touch-and-go nuclear minefield.”
Earlier this month, the defense chiefs of the three AUKUS nations issued a statement noting their consideration of Japan as a partner for advanced military technology fields in their trilateral AUKUS security cooperation.
They are also considering South Korea, Canada and New Zealand as potential partners for cooperation on Pillar II advanced capability projects. AUKUS, launched in September 2021, is largely seen as a group of like-minded countries formed to counter China’s assertiveness.
“It is the sinister intention of the U.S. to make Japan… a crewmember of a confrontation ship called AUKUS and put it at the outpost line of the anti-China pressure and push the nuclear minefield in the Asia-Pacific region closer to China,” Kang Jin-song, an international affairs analyst, said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.
Kang accused the U.S. of attempting to seek stronger security cooperation with South Korea, Australia, Japan and the Philippines based on what he called “anti-China confrontation.”
“The peace camp in the region and the rest of the world should heighten vigilance against the reckless moves of Washington to frantically expand its alliance sphere without limits, targeting a certain state,” Kang said. (Yonhap)
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SOURCE: www.koreatimes.co.kr
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Published April 26, 2024
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