The squawkus about Aukus is getting louder

AUKUS continues to make waves across the Pacific. Unveiled in 2021, the tripartite pact centres around Australia’s acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines from the US and the UK.

For the Biden administration, Aukus has rapidly become a centrepiece of its efforts to contain Chinese power. For Australia, it is a far-reaching choice to tighten its military ties with the US. For the UK, it is a symbol of the country’s renewed global ambitions.

China has repeatedly attacked Aukus as dangerous and confrontational. Shortly after it was launched, Boris Johnson, Britain’s prime minister at the time, gleefully lampooned the “raucous squawkus from the anti-Aukus caucus”.