Aukus gets the Philippines’ backing – despite warnings from Indonesia, Malaysia about defence partnership

In a statement, the Philippines’ Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin said the deal ‘should restore and keep balance rather than destabilise it’

Indonesia and Malaysia have sounded the alarm about nuclear powered submarines amid a burgeoning superpower rivalry in Southeast Asia

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Teodoro Locsin, the Philippines‘ foreign minister, pictured with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington earlier this month. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:19pm, 21 Sep 2021Updated: 8:47pm, 21 Sep 2021

The Philippines is backing a new defence partnership between the United States, Britain and Australia, hoping it can maintain the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region, a view that contrasts sharply with some of its neighbours.

Known as Aukus, the alliance will see Australia get technology to deploy nuclear-powered submarines as part of the agreement intended to respond to growing Chinese power.

“The enhancement of a near-abroad ally’s ability to project power should restore and keep the balance rather than destabilise it,” the Philippines’ foreign minister, Teodoro Locsin, said in a statement on Tuesday.

A US nuclear-powered submarine of the type that Australia may soon deploy under the Aukus alliance. Photo: US Navy/TNS

Locsin’s remarks, dated Sunday, differ to the stance of Indonesia and Malaysia, which sounded the alarm about the nuclear powered submarines amid a burgeoning superpower rivalry in Southeast Asia.

Locsin said that without an actual presence of nuclear weapons, the Aukus move would not violate a 1995 treaty to keep nuclear arms out of Southeast Asia.

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