Link to Article:https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20210920-north-korea-says-us-risking-nuclear-arms-race-with-australia-sub-deal
Australia, the United States, and Britain will have a new three way security pact. In this partnership the U.S will supply nuclear submarines to Australia. The North Korean ministry takes this as dangerous acts that will upset the dynamics in the indo-pacific region, as well as trigger a “nuclear arms race” in the region. At this time, North Korea had also just tested two ballistic missiles, and Seoul just successfully test fired a submarine launched ballistic missile, making it the seventh country with this technology. In addition the US – Australia – Britain alliance is widely viewed as aimed at countering the rise of China. The North Korean Minister said that the U.S. dealings are threatening world peace and stability.
As we know, France is upset with this deal as they claim to feel stabbed in the back. Through this article, it was interesting to see other countries in the indo pacific region react to this security pact. It also shows how much a deal like this can adversely affect the region. This is because dominant countries of the area like North Korea and China feel threatened by the rise of Australia’s nuclear capability, when previously they were the countries who dominated in this field. With this potential shift of power dynamic of the region, countries like China and North Korea will react. In terms of where the U.S. stands, other countries will not view this lightly and perceive it as a threat to the region, which can make them react. This means that the countries in the region will continue to develop more advanced weapons, which will cause further conflict in terms of the power dynamic.
In class we talked about how partnering with different countries for different purposes is beneficial because you get resources. In the case of AUKUS, Australia will get more advanced submarines with nuclear weapons. In addition this ties with what we talked about in class on the topic of power and world peace and how peace is maintained. This is because we already see that countries in the region like North Korea will view this as a power threat and said it could deter the peace in the region. On the other hand, the intergovernmental organization Association of Southeast Asian Nations is trying to create a safe and peaceful region and they think that the AUKUS deal can balance out the power that China holds in the area, thus creating more peace.