Australia and Britain sign defence pact in face of rising Chinese power

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Australia and the UK have signed a defence and security agreement, further deepening their ties in the face of rising Chinese power in the region.

Australian defence minister, Richard Marles, and his UK counterpart, Grant Shapps, signed a treaty that formalises consultation on security matters and makes it easier for their forces to operate in each other’s countries, including co-operation on maritime security and exercises.

Australia also committed to join the UK and Latvian-led coalition to support Ukraine in developing drone capability. Thursday’s agreement builds on the Aukus security partnership that Australia signed with the US and UK to overhaul its defence strategy and adapt to China’s military build-up.

Security in the region was “pivotal” for the UK, Shapps said in an interview with the Financial Times. He praised Australian support in the Red Sea, where commercial shipping has been attacked by Houthi militants, and Ukraine, and said the two countries would step up collaboration in the Indo-Pacific region.

“There is a much more assertive, epoch-defining China particularly in this region but for the world as well. So it’s doubly important to be absolutely clear that we want to live in a peaceful world. A peaceful world [that] includes things like freedom of navigation and playing by the rules and the world order is worth protecting,” Shapps said.

“The UK views, in many ways actually, that European conflict, the Middle East, Red Sea issues and freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific as being one big part of the same geopolitical tension,” he said.

Marles said: “As the world becomes more complex and uncertain, we must modernise our most important partnerships. The agreements we reached today will secure this outcome into the future.”

The new security pact was signed a day after Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, visited Canberra and called for stronger ties with Australia after five years of geopolitical tension. 

Ian Hall, professor of international relations at Griffith University, said: “This security deal is a sign of the commitment of Australia and the UK to work together more closely in the Indo-Pacific, after more than 50 years in which Britain has not had a consequential presence. And obviously it paves the way for British submarines to ‘rotate’ through Australian bases.”

Shapps visited Canberra with Lord David Cameron, the UK’s foreign minister, and both will travel to South Australia on Friday to visit shipyards near Adelaide where the country plans to build nuclear-powered submarines as part of the Aukus pact with the US and UK. 

Hall said: “All eyes are still focused on whether or not the two can produce that elusive nuclear-propelled submarine for Australia, where and how they’ll do it, and how soon they’ll deliver.”