Opinion | How the Aukus ruckus exposes the rifts between US allies in Southeast Asia

Winston Churchill famously complained during World War II that “there is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is fighting without them”. US President Joe Biden might be harbouring similar thoughts these days as Washington tries to corral its allies in response to China’s rise.

The ruckus over the new Aukus alliance between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, which drew an outraged response from France, is the latest manifestation of divides within the West.

But it’s in Southeast Asia where the geopolitical impact will be felt the most. If anything, the divergent responses from Southeast Asian nations has revealed the difficulties of assembling an “Asian Nato” against China.

Washington appears to have underestimated the anger from Paris over the nuclear submarine agreement. A similarly spirited response from the European Union, which called for an apology from Australia, also exposed some lingering resentment in transatlantic relations.

There are three reasons Aukus is a major development for the region. First, any Australia nuclear submarine is likely to be deployed to hotly contested waters such as the South China Sea, where multiple Southeast Asian countries are at loggerheads with China.