AUKUS: What lies beneath the new submarine pact?
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 23 September 2021
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Until last week, it was one of the government's most closely guarded secrets. Only about ten people in Britain had been privy to the details.
And then – out of the blue – the UK, the US and Australia unveiled a new strategic alliance. The deal promises nuclear-powered submarines for Australia, and renewed security in the Indo-Pacific region. Today we look at how the announcement has been met in Southeast Asia, where tensions over the South China Sea continue to grow.
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Guest: Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia editor, The Times.
Host: Manveen Rana.
Clips: Sky News, The Guardian, The Telegraph.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm delighted to join President Biden and Prime Minister Morrison to announce that the |
| 0:10.1 | United Kingdom, Australia and the United States are creating a new trilateral defense |
| 0:17.4 | partnership known as Orcas. |
| 0:20.6 | When it was unveiled on the world stage last week, the new strategic alliance between |
| 0:25.6 | the UK, the US, and Australia was met with astonishment, not least by the French, |
| 0:32.7 | who watched in shock as their own submarine deal with the Australians was being torn |
| 0:37.4 | up in public. |
| 0:41.3 | It is really a stab in the back. |
| 0:43.4 | We built a relationship of trust with Australia and this trust has been betrayed and I'm angry |
| 0:48.5 | today and bitter about this breach. |
| 0:51.3 | Using new alliances, a peer to have put old ones at risk. |
| 0:56.2 | Whatever the long term benefits or harm that are going to be caused by this deal, in |
| 1:01.2 | the short term it's been a tremendous diplomatic cock-up. |
| 1:05.2 | I just think it's time for some of our dearest friends around the world to prony and |
| 1:10.9 | grip about all this and don't even want and break. |
| 1:15.6 | But while the diplomatic spat with France is still unfolding, how has this deal gone |
| 1:20.9 | down in Southeast Asia? |
| 1:23.1 | When I heard about this deal, the first inclinings are kind of dread that East Asia really |
| 1:29.3 | is now entering a period of confrontation. |
| 1:35.8 | You're listening to stories of our times from the Times and the Sunday Times. |
| 1:39.6 | I'm Manvian Rana, today, Orcas. |
| 1:43.7 | What lies beneath the new submarine pact? |
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