When the AUKUS pact was launched in 2021, none of the three leaders of Australia, the US and the UK mentioned the word “China”. Instead, observers had to read between the lines about delivering security and stability to the Indo-Pacific to understand the true aim of the submarine agreement.
In Beijing, the meaning was considered clear: the AUKUS nations were exhibiting a “Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice”, which would risk “seriously undermin[ing] regional peace and stability and intensif[ying] the arms race”, in the words of Chinese officials.