According to the Global Times, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia issued a statement announcing that they will explore cooperation with Japan in the second pillar of the "Trilateral Security Partnership" (AUKUS), and that negotiations with Japan will be launched this year. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese bluntly said that Japan is a suitable candidate as a partner country in the second pillar. According to reports, Aukus, which was established in 2021, has two pillars, the first pillar is the nuclear submarine project, which is limited to the United States, Britain and Australia, mainly to deploy nuclear submarines in Australia, a non-nuclear-armed country, and does not seek cooperation with other countries, and the second pillar is to develop advanced combat capabilities such as artificial intelligence, underwater drones and hypersonic missiles, which can allow other partner countries to participate.
It was certainly not enough for Japan to join in the development of the second pillar of Aukus, so the United States also extended an invitation to South Korea. According to the global network, a senior official of the US National Security Council said in an interview with South Korean media that AUKUS is considering pulling in a number of additional partners such as South Korea, Canada, and New Zealand to bring unique advantages to the development of the second pillar. The US proposal has been responded to by the ROK, and the ROK Foreign Ministry said it welcomes it and is open to maintaining cooperation with AUKUS, and the specific matters can be decided after consultations.
The purpose of Aukus's efforts to woo Japan, South Korea, and China's neighboring countries, is to isolate, counterbalance, and contain China. To be more specific, the United States is now on its own and cannot guarantee an advantage in a head-to-head confrontation with China. In this case, the establishment of an Aukus alliance to strengthen military cooperation with allies through arming and so that allies can wear down China first in a possible future conflict between China and the United States. There are three main places where China and the United States are most likely to clash: the Korean Peninsula, the Taiwan Strait, and the South China Sea. Among them, the potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait is the most worrying for the United States, which knows that even when the time comes to use non-peaceful means to resolve the Taiwan issue, China will spare no effort to complete the reunification of the motherland.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Campbell did not shy away from saying that in a practical situation, AUKUS may have submarines from several countries closely coordinate their actions and deliver conventional munitions over long distances, including jointly responding to the situation in the Taiwan Strait. According to media analysis, senior U.S. officials leaked Aukus's secrets and publicly confirmed that Aukus's plan was aimed at a potential war with China.
Regarding the words and deeds of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia forming factions to confront China and interfering in the situation in the Taiwan Strait through the AUKUS framework. The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of our country responded one after another. On the one hand. China opposes the cobbling together of exclusive "cliques" and bloc confrontation among relevant countries. The AUKUS of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia is a closed and exclusive "small circle," and the three countries will only intensify the arms race in the Asia-Pacific region and undermine regional peace and stability by enlisting Japan and South Korea to join them. On the other hand, the Chinese side asked what the US side intended to link the so-called Aukus submarine program with the Taiwan issue? At the same time, it made a strong statement, saying that China's will to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity is unwavering, and no one should underestimate or misjudge it.
China has not only given verbal warnings, but also countered them in concrete actions. According to the Observer, Chinese wheat buyers have recently canceled or postponed wheat orders from the United States and Australia on a large scale, of which the "cancellation" of wheat imports to the United States has reached a total of 504,000 tons, which is more than half of the total U.S. wheat exports to China in 2023, setting the largest import order cancellation since the U.S. Department of Agriculture began counting in 1999, while Australia has canceled or postponed about 1 million tons of wheat orders, and Chinese buyers have not explained the reason for the cancellation.
It is worth mentioning that China is increasing its imports of wheat and other grains from Russia, Kazakhstan and other countries along the Belt and Road, and is even expected to receive Argentine wheat for the first time. On the Aukus issue, China's low-key performance does not mean that China will sit idly by, and as for the real reasons for China's cancellation of wheat orders from the United States and Australia, the United States and Australia need to reflect on themselves.