[While Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison did not mention China in their remarks on Wednesday, the pact is widely seen as a response to China’s expanding economic power, military reach and diplomatic influence. China is believed to have six nuclear attack submarines, with plans to increase the fleet in the next decade.]
By Lily Kuo
After President Biden’s announcement on Wednesday of a new
defense alliance, to be known as AUKUS, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao
Lijian described the agreement as “extremely irresponsible” while Chinese state
media warned Australia that it was now an “adversary” of China and should
“prepare for the worst.”
At a regular news briefing in
Beijing, Zhao said the alliance “seriously undermined regional peace and
stability, aggravated the arms race and hurt international nonproliferation
efforts.”
He accused the United States and
Britain of “double standards” and using nuclear exports as a “tool in their
geopolitical games,” as he admonished them to “abandon their outdated Cold War
mentality” — a common refrain from ministry spokespeople.
“Otherwise, they will only shoot
themselves in the foot,” he added.
While Biden, British Prime Minister
Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison did not mention
China in their remarks on Wednesday, the pact is widely seen as a response to
China’s expanding economic power, military reach and diplomatic influence.
China is believed to have six nuclear attack submarines, with plans to increase
the fleet in the next decade.
“Beijing will view this as part of
the Biden administration’s effort to build coalitions to hem China in and
contain its rising power,” said Bonnie Glaser, director of the German Marshall
Fund’s Asia program.
The agreement, which comes soon after
the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, is part of broader effort by
Biden to focus on the Indo-Pacific region and recruit allies to counter what
his administration sees as an increasingly militant and authoritarian China.
Under the Biden administration,
Washington and Beijing have clashed over human rights, trade, the South China Sea
and Taiwan. As the United States attempts to engage China on climate pledges
ahead of a key international summit in November, there have been few signs of
progress. A 90-minute call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Biden last
week resulted in few specifics. During the call, Xi said U.S. policies have
caused “serious difficulties” in the relationship, according to the official
Xinhua News Agency.
Glaser said she expects Beijing to
exert more pressure on Australia and the United Kingdom to “deter others from
banding together” against China. “In Chinese, that’s ‘killing the chicken to
scare the monkey,’ ” she said.
On Thursday, the state-run Global
Times described the United States as “losing its mind trying to rally its
allies against China” and accused Australia of becoming a “running dog” of
Washington. China and Australia have been locked in a trade war for more than a
year as relations have deteriorated.
“Since Australia has become an
anti-China spearhead, the country should prepare for the worst,” the editorial
warned.
Others say Beijing has little
recourse to pressure those involved in the alliance. “There is not a lot they
can do in material terms because the relationship with the U.S. is already at
rock bottom. They have already imposed sanctions on Australia and threatened it
so much that their bullying tactics have proven to be counterproductive,” said
Christopher Hughes, a professor of international relations at the London School
of Economics and Political Science, focusing on Chinese foreign policy.
According to Hughes, while the new
alliance is likely to fan already high anti-Western nationalism in China, it
could also “add fuel to growing concerns inside China” over Xi’s expanding
crackdown on the private sector and society and a weakening economy.
“If they are wise, they will
realize that this alignment is the result of their own assertiveness and change
tack,” he said. “[China] does not have a lot of cards to play.”
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