The AUKUS pact is a model for Western allies

Australian and British sailors have been visiting American submarines for decades. It would be hard to imagine closer allies than their three countries. But as those sailors approached the engine room they would come to a watertight door that even they could not pass. For beyond it lay one of America’s most sacrosanct technologies, shared only with Britain in 1958: nuclear propulsion. The aukus pact throws that door open, pointing the way to a new phase in the West’s competition with China.

Under the plans announced on March 13th by Anthony Albanese, Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak, the leaders of Australia, America and Britain, Britain will co-design and build a next-generation submarine with Australia. To bridge the gap until the first boat arrives in the 2040s, America and Britain will rotate subs through Perth in the 2020s and America will sell up to five Virginia-class nuclear submarines to Australia in the 2030s. Each of these steps is unprecedented.