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Aukus alliance

Aukus alliance
The United States, Britain and Australia announced a security pact, dubbed the "Aukus" alliance, in September 2021, which includes an agreement to help Canberra secure a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. The move was seen as targeted at China, and has caused anger in France and India.
South Korea says it will build its own nuclear-powered submarines, with the first vessels to be launched by the mid-2030s. Photo: Getty Images
China-South Korea relations

How will South Korea’s nuclear submarines alter balance near first island chain?

Analyst cites further Indo-Pacific nations eyeing SSNs, with potential to ‘tie together with the broader US alliance system in the region’.

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Asean

Opinion | Why China’s warning over military blocs is finding listeners in Asia

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Diplomacy

Opinion | 122 years on, Mackinder’s ‘heartland’ remains geopolitically decisive

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Australia

Australia signs US$7 billion Japan warship deal to boost firepower against China

The formalised deal offers Canberra a strategic alternative to uncertain US defence ties, analysts say.

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A Mogami-class stealth frigate from Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force docks in Darwin, Australia, on June 6, 2025. Photo: Kyodo/AP
Taiwan

Opinion | What the Iran war reveals about Nato’s appetite for conflict over Taiwan

Resistance to a war started without European consent makes clear the alliance’s limits. The US can’t count on Nato support for a war in Asia.

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Australia

Albanese says Australian troops were on board US sub that sank Iranian ship

The prime minister said the military personnel were on the vessel as part of training arrangements under the Aukus deal.

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Australia

Australia unveils billions for nuclear submarines under Aukus security pact

The vessels, under agreement with the UK and the US, are at the heart of a major strategy to improve long-range strike capabilities.

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Australia’s HMAS Waller submarine is seen in Sydney Harbour in 2016. Photo: AFP
Canada

‘Devil’s in the details’: why Asia may not sign up to Canada’s alliance call

While Canadian PM Mark Carney’s vision appeals to many, analysts say a lack of detail and divergent interests make a unified front unlikely.

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China-Australia relations

China vows to step in if Australia moves to regain control of Darwin Port

Envoy Xiao Qian says Beijing ‘has the obligation to take measures’ if the port, leased to China for 99 years, is taken back.

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United States

Not ‘Trump-compatible’? China expert Rudd exits Australia’s US ambassador role

Kevin ‌Rudd left his post a year ‍earlier than planned following criticism from US President Donald Trump at White House meeting in October.

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Australia’s ambassador to the United States, Kevin Rudd, is stepping down a year earlier than expected and is returning to lead the Asia Society think tank. Photo: TNS
Australia

Why US review of Aukus submarine deal for Australia is kept secret

One reason is to maintain public support for the alliance by preventing any shortfalls of the deal from being made known, analysts say.

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(Left to right) US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles and UK Defence Secretary John Healey speaking to the media following their meeting to discuss Aukus in Washington on Wednesday. Photo: AFP
United States

Rubio and Hegseth discuss Indo-Pacific security with Australian counterparts

At the talks, Rubio hailed cooperation between the US and Canberra on critical minerals, defence production and troop deployments.

Australia

Aukus deal to move ‘full steam ahead’ after surviving Trump review

The Pentagon said the five-month evaluation ‘identified opportunities to put Aukus on the strongest possible footing’.

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United States

Opinion | Devil in the details as US agrees to a South Korean nuclear-powered sub

Will the Australian experience be shared? Will it be a Virginia-class vessel or an indigenous design? And where will funding come from?

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A bottle of champagne is smashed on the hull of South Korea’s first 3,600-ton-class naval submarine during a ceremony held at the Hanwha Ocean dockyard, in Geoje, South Korea, October 22. Photo: Photo: EPA/Yonhap
US-China relations

Modelling of Taiwan war shows US could recruit Australia, Japan for sanctions

‘Sanctions alone are unlikely to deter’ Beijing but economic tools should be part of ‘broader contingency planning’, Rand says.

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A US think tank report suggests that Australia and Japan, both with Pacific interests, could be “core” members of a US-led sanctions move if Washington believed Beijing might launch an attack on Taiwan within months. Photo: Reuters
South Korea

Trump says South Korea has approval to build nuclear-powered submarine

The technology is widely regarded as some of the most sensitive and highly guarded information the US military possesses.

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Australia

Australia scores big win in US with critical minerals deal, Aukus commitment

The allies will invest US$1 billion in various critical minerals projects in a bid to cut their reliance on dominant supplier China.

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US-China relations

Trump denying China risk may leave Taiwan as bargaining chip

President Donald Trump’s suggestion that China is unlikely to invade Taiwan may put the US stance towards the island on the table in trade talks with President Xi Jinping.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Donald Trump. Photo: AFP
US-China relations

Pentagon nominee hints at Aukus changes, says Taiwan should ‘pay its way’

US pick for Indo-Pacific security role tells senators that he strongly supports President Donald Trump’s ‘America first’ foreign policy.

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Australia

Aukus faces an ‘America first’ review. Will Trump’s agenda scupper the deal?

Australia’s huge financial commitment to the Aukus pact may work in its favour, but Trump’s deal-making approach means anything is possible.

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Japan

‘A logical next step’: why the US is backing Japan’s entry into Aukus

With its advanced defence technology, Japan can complement the US, the UK and Australia in the development of attack submarines.

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, then US president Joe Biden and then British prime minister Rishi Sunak speaking in San Diego in 2023 on the trilateral Aukus security pact. Photo: AP
War and conflict

Opinion | Multipolar arms race takes ballistic missile threat to new levels

Cold War-era bilateral arms control treaties simply won’t work as more states emerge with deterrent capabilities, complicating calculations.

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The Iron Dome, Israel’s air defence system, intercepting ballistic missiles fired from Iran, over Tel Aviv, Israel, on June 17. Photo: EPA-EFE
United States

Biden adviser warns Trump against scrapping Aukus pact with Australia

A critic of the deal will lead the Pentagon’s assessment of the collaboration this autumn to ensure it aligns with Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda.

Pacific nations

‘We must invest’: New Zealand seeks to shed its ‘pretty slack’ defence image

Analysts suggest Wellington’s new US$5.2 billion defence plan is a hedge against pressure from Donald Trump’s White House.

Australia

Japan wins US$6 billion deal to give Australia ‘a more lethal navy’

Australia’s deal for 11 new stealth frigates from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries marks its ‘biggest-ever’ defence agreement with Japan.

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A Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force Mogami stealth frigate docks at Yokosuka Base on April 8. Australia will buy 11 of these warships from Japan. Photo: EPA-EFE
US-China relations

Asian military spending

The US is urging its Asia-Pacific allies to raise defence spending because of a perceived ‘imminent’ threat from China, particularly against Taiwan.

Defence spending in Asia
Australia

Trump review looms as Australia makes US$525 million Aukus payment

Australia sees the pact as crucial for defence against China’s rise, while the Trump administration wants it to align with its ‘America First’ policy.

China-Australia relations

Albanese China trip shows ‘stiffening of Canberra spine’ in face of US pressure

Beijing rolled out the red carpet for the Australian leader this week and the two sides appeared to keep a lid on tensions.

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