Korea, Canada, New Zealand under consideration for AUKUS Pillar II partners: US official
U.S. President Joe Biden participates in a trilateral meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during the AUKUS summit, at Naval Base Point Loma in San Diego California. March 13, 2023, AFP-Yonhap
The United States, Britain and Australia are considering Korea, Canada and New Zealand as potential partners for cooperation on advanced capability projects of their AUKUS security partnership, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday.
The remarks came a day after the defense chiefs of the three countries issued a joint statement noting their consideration of Japan as a partner for Pillar II projects of the partnership.
Launched in September 2021 in an apparent move to counter China's assertiveness, AUKUS consists of two key pillars. Pillar I is to support Australia in acquiring conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines, while Pillar II is for cooperation in high-tech areas, including quantum computing, artificial intelligence and hypersonics.
"The AUKUS partners are considering a range of additional partners who may bring unique strengths to Pillar 2, including the ROK, Canada and New Zealand, in addition to Japan," the official said in response to a question from Yonhap News Agency. ROK stands for Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.
"Additional partners will only be added with full consensus, however, and through a consultation process that will take some months," the official added.
In their joint statement, the AUKUS defense chiefs highlighted their confidence that "engaging like-minded partners in the work of Pillar II will only strengthen" their pursuit of the shared objective to deliver advanced capabilities in support of regional stability.
Beijing has criticized AUKUS, arguing that "bloc confrontation and exclusive groupings" go against "the trend of the times" and worsen an arms race in the region. (Yonhap)