Viewpoint: Security pact

It does appear that Britain is moving rapidly away from Europe

Australia, UK and the US launch security pact AUKUS | MICK TSIKAS

Jason MoorePalma17/09/2021 09:52

The former leader of UKIP, Nigel Farage, is not a man I usually agree with but yesterday he tweeted the following: “The new security pact with the US and Australia would never have happened without Brexit.

We are now reuniting with our real friends in the world.” The new security deal is a slap in the face for France because not only does it appear to have lost a lucrative deal for 12 conventional submarines for the Australian Navy it also must be fuming because it wasn´t asked to join the pact.

It does appear that Britain is moving rapidly away from Europe, and possibly, Farage is right, the deal wouldn´t have happened if Britain was a member of the European Union. Britain does appear to be striking up old alliances in parts of the world where it had once retreated.

Australia and the U.S. are undoubtedly solid allies of Britain and the new deal should be welcomed as a sign of more global cooperation but surely NATO should have been involved? Also, I don´t understand why the three countries want to strike out on their own when there are other allies in the region such as Japan and even France is active in the Asia/Pacific area.

If Australia does decide to buy nuclear-powered submarines it will certainly mean that tensions with China will rise even further. I understand that the three nations want to counter China´s influence in the region and three maybe a crowd but there is always greater strength in greater numbers.

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tranq | over 2 years ago

Hi Jason, Its not odd about not inviting NATO. If you look at the website list of members https://www.nato.int/nato-welcome/index.html only two are outside Europe, the USA and Canada. Below the list is the following statement : NATO membership is open to “any other European state in a position to further the principles of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area.” And there lies the answer, NATO is concerned with the North Atlantic ie Europe and not the Pacific region. You, and Farage are spot on about Brexit and this deal has Johnson stamped all over it. Boris is desperate to conjure up anything that will show Brexit is having a positive effect whilst at the same time trying to deflect the news away from the daily havoc being caused by the negative effects of Brexit within the UK. Lack of lorry drivers, lack of staff, especially in hospitality, farming,construction need I go on. We were wed to Europe for 40+ years so it was obvious from the outset these problems would arise.Our man with dreams of being the new Churchill is looking more like a sad version of Chamberlain every day. Finally on Japan and France. Japan, like Germany has a defeated nations policy of not getting involved unless their national security is directly and immediately threatened. As for France the answer is " NON" and we all know where that came from. John Little

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