Australia has signed a 555 million-euro compensation agreement with France’s Naval Group, which it returned from a previous agreement to purchase submarine technology and co-production.
In September last year, Australia withdrew from a 35 billion-euro agreement with France to build a joint submarine.
Instead, he signed an agreement called AUKUS with the UK and the USA, and signed an agreement to purchase and produce nuclear submarine technology from these two countries.
French officials said that the AUKUS talks between the three countries were carried out without their knowledge and that Australia withdrew from the agreement at the last moment; had a strong reaction. Paris had also temporarily withdrawn its ambassadors from these countries.
The compensation agreement worth 555 million euros, signed approximately 9 months after the crisis, drew a line on this crisis, which also blocked the trade agreement negotiations between the EU and Australia.
The EU suspended trade agreements with Australia to support France.
Anthony Albanese, who took office as Australian Prime Minister last month, said the deal was “a fair and equitable deal”. He said that he will go to France shortly and will restart relations that have been stalled by the recent tension:
“I look forward to evaluating President Macron’s invitation to Paris at the earliest opportunity.”
After the incident, French President Emmanuel Macron accused the then Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, of “lying”; Although the ambassadors were sent back and relations were re-established after the negotiations, tensions persisted. When the government changed in the elections held in Australia last month, both Australia’s and France’s attitudes changed and the compensation agreement was agreed.
French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said the agreement “will help them turn a page in their relationship with Australia and they will now look forward”.
Basic information about AUKUS:
- What is AUKUS**** AUKUS, a security pact between Australia, the UK and the US, allows greater intelligence sharing between these three countries, while allowing Australia to purchase nuclear warhead submarine technology from the UK and the US. But these submarines will not carry nuclear weapons.
- What was the target**?** AUKUS in order to respond to the increasing ‘Chinese threat’ in the region and the increasing military power of the country; Signed to cooperate against Chinese influence in the South China Sea.
- Why did France react? Australia withdrew from the $37 million submarine deal it signed with France on the grounds that it signed this agreement and was no longer needed. Moreover, France, which is allied with Britain and the United States in NATO, only learned of the agreement a few hours before it was made public.
With the AUKUS Pact, Australia will be able to produce at least eight nuclear warheads. This is seen as an effective way to counter Chinese influence in the South China Sea.
The agreement, which also envisages intelligence sharing in many different areas, went down in history as the most comprehensive security agreement made by Australia recently.
This will make Australia the seventh country in the world to own a nuclear-tipped submarine.
Prime Minister Albanese also criticized the previous government and said that the canceled agreement would be a burden of 3.4 billion dollars on taxpaying Australians.
Trying to establish a positive agenda with China
The new government in Australia has taken steps to initiate bilateral ministerial talks with China to reduce tensions between them.
Speaking in Singapore, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said: “We want respectful relations with all countries in the region, including China”:
“Australia cares about having a constructive relationship with China. China is not going anywhere. And we should all live and thrive here.”