Aukus risks being just ‘a label’ if it fails to curb China’s regional ‘adventurism’
The bloc could soon show results in areas such as autonomous underwater vehicles and quantum computing-based defence, analysts say
The urgency to produce results would benefit researchers, start-ups as well as other enterprises involved in the defence pact, they add.
Nishank Motwani, a senior defence and security analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said Aukus must focus on delivering on these goals promptly to show how the three allies could work together to address their collective security challenge over China.
Pointing out that the central purpose of Aukus was to deter Beijing from engaging in armed conflict, Motwani said credible deterrence was needed to “complicate China’s decision-making calculus to use force by making the risk of failure too high”.
“Given the stakes, it is imperative for Aukus to contribute to deterrence,” he said, adding that the grouping would otherwise “risk being nothing more than a label”.