Biden finds himself at center of another international storm: France says it has been ‘stabbed in the back’ by US-UK-Australia defense pact to take on China after losing out on $90bn nuclear sub contract

Biden finds himself at center of another international storm: France says it has been ‘stabbed in the back’ by US-UK-Australia defense pact to take on China after losing out on $90bn nuclear sub contract

• Unprecedented security partnership was announced by Biden, Boris Johnson Scott Morrison
• The agreement will see US, UK and Australia share nuclear technology secrets in tech battle with the Chinese
• The pact means Australian navy will be equipped with nuclear-powered vessels made by US and UK
• France was due to make Australia’s new subs – but claimed last night it had been ‘stabbed in the back’
• New Zealand also isolated with Jacinda Ardern declaring the submarines will be banned from their waters

Joe Biden has found himself at the epicenter of another international outcry after the President announced a new pact between the US, UK and Australia to build a fleet of nuclear submarines to combat China.

The new alliance – called AUKUS – will see the US and UK cooperate to build Australia’s first ever nuclear submarine fleet of at least eight vessels.

It has been condemned by China as an example of ‘Cold War mentality’ and left France fuming after the new deal saw a pre-existing $90billion contract for France to build Australia’s subs torn up.

Biden’s declaration of the three-way deal was confirmation of a new allied nuclear and technological arms race against China, which has been increasing its military presence in the South China sea where valuable trading routes and fertile fishing grounds are located.

In addition to the US and UK co-ordinating to build Australia’s submarines, the allied trio will share other military technologies such as artificial intelligence, cyber defense, quantum computing and long-range strike capabilities.

Meanwhile, Japan fears China’s increasingly-assertive navy, which now frequently conducts patrols that skirt its territorial waters including with its new aircraft carriers. Tokyo has beefed up its military presence around several disputed islands in response, raising fears of an accidental conflict.

Japan is also fending off increased threats from North Korea’s missile programme, with Kim Jong Un now possessing nuclear-capable cruise missiles that can range almost the entire Japanese mainland.

China wasted little time responding to the deal, denouncing it as an ‘exclusionary bloc’ while accusing the allies of possessing a ‘Cold War mentality’, but Beijing is by no means the only party angered by President Biden’s announcement.

Paris was also quick to react as enraged diplomats declared they had been ‘stabbed in the back’ by Biden and Johnson, as a $90bn deal for France to supply Australia’s new submarines was overlooked in favour of the US-UK offer.

The French vessels were due some time in the mid-2030s, while Biden’s new pact is thought to move that date significantly closer.

‘This brutal, unilateral and unpredictable decision reminds me a lot of what Mr Trump used to do,’ French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told franceinfo radio. ‘I am angry and bitter. This isn’t done between allies.’

Biden meanwhile on Wednesday said France remained a ‘key partner in the Indo-Pacific zone.’

The deal also side-lines New Zealand and Canada – who together with the US, UK and Australia make up the Cold War-era Five Eyes intelligence alliance, but now appear isolated from the group.

Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s left-wing leader, has since admitted that she was not even consulted by Biden, Johnson or Australian PM Scott Morrison on the new pact – adding that Australia’s new subs will be banned from entering New Zealand waters under the country’s long-standing ‘nuclear free’ policy.

The move appears to punish New Zealand and Canada for failing to take a stronger stance against Beijing, coming just four months after New Zealand refused to sign a joint Five Eyes statement which criticized China’s aggression in the South China Sea, its crackdown in Hong Kong, threats to Taiwan and its treatment of Uyghur Muslims.