Description: Combined political initiative signed by five US senators was sent to US Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, in support of the US continued involvement in the AUKUS agreement. The US Defense Department recently announced an extended review of the AUKUS partnership with Australia and the UK citing shipbuilding and manpower concerns as well as cost effectiveness. Under the provisions of the partnership, Australia is set to receive up to five nuclear – powered submarines from the US by 2030, substituting their older diesel – powered submarines while modernizing naval presence in the geopolitically relevant Indo – Pacific. The review, instigated by the Trump administration puts the AUKUS alliance established in 2021 in jeopardy of faltering in times of enhanced Chinese naval presence and constant incursion in disputed territorial waters.
Impact: Financial and operational disputes around the AUKUS agreement further emphasize Trump’s isolationist foreign policies, despite the US announcing of expanded strategic goals for the Indo – Pacific and accentuating the region’s geopolitical importance. US – aligned forces in the Indo – Pacific such as the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand are in a severely disadvantageous position in countering Chinese naval assets which are reasserting dominance over disputed waters, islands and trade routes. The potential disbandment of the AUKUS agreement would instigate even more intensified Chinese involvement in the region subduing efforts from regional powers to have a significant deterrence capability.