Overtures to Join Australia-UK-U.S. Military Bloc
People in Sydney, Australia oppose
the AUKUS military bloc, March 28, 2024.
During Defence Minister Bill Blair's recent trip to Japan, it came to light that Canada is making overtures to join the Australia-UK-U.S. (AUKUS) military bloc that has the expressed aim of military confrontation with China. Established in 2021, its initial goal was for Australia to acquire nuclear submarines from the U.S. at the cost of AUD$358 billion. Peace-loving people in Australia have actively opposed AUKUS and its aim of aggression toward China since it came into being.
A September 13 report from Reuters states, "Canada is in discussions about joining an expanded AUKUS deal between the U.S., Britain, and Australia formed to counter China's growing military influence in the Asia Pacific region, Canadian Defence Minister Bill Blair said.
"Canada has said it wants to join a second pillar of AUKUS that will collaborate on new military technologies, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing, but has not so far revealed any details of those talks.
"'There have been important discussions about processes and platforms on a project-specific basis on where other nations, including Japan and ourselves, might participate,' Blair said in an interview in Tokyo where he met his Japanese counterpart Kihara Minoru.
"'I would respectfully wait until they've come to their determination, but I'm very optimistic,' he said."
As part of Canada's subservience to NATO aims, Canada is increasing its military spending, thus Reuters reports:
"Canada is looking for a bigger security role in Asia and has made forging deeper ties with Japan and south Korea a priority. As its defence commitments expand at home and overseas the country is expanding military spending.
"'Next year, my defence budget will rise by 27 per cent over this year, and, frankly, in the next three or four years, our defence spending will triple,' Blair said."
A subsequent Reuters report stated:
"AUKUS partners Australia, Britain and the United States said on [September 18] they are in discussions with Canada, Japan and New Zealand about potential collaboration on defence technology projects.
"'We are consulting with Canada, New Zealand, and the Republic of Korea to identify possibilities for collaboration on advanced capabilities under AUKUS Pillar II,' the leaders said in a joint statement to mark the third AUKUS anniversary."
This article was published in
Volume 54 Number 43 - October 14, 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/TS54438.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca