Canada in talks to join AUKUS in expanded pact

Canada’s Defence Minister Bill Blair revealed he’s in talks about joining AUKUS as the security pact considers expanding with allies including Japan and South Korea.

Canada is in talks to join AUKUS as part of a second pillar in the security alliance between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Canada’s Defence Minister Bill Blair is the latest to reveal he’s in discussions on joining the pact after Japan and South Korea, as the Western allies seek to counter China’s influence in the Asia Pacific.

“There have been important discussions about processes and platforms on a project-specific basis on where other nations, including Japan and ourselves, might participate,” Mr Blair told Reuters in Tokyo, where he met his Japanese counterpart, Minoru Kihara.

Canada's Defence Minister Bill Blair and Japan's Defence Minister Minoru Kihara discuss joining a second pillar of AUKUS. Picture:: AFP

“I would respectfully wait until they’ve come to their determination, but I’m very optimistic.”

Canada’s interest in joining AUKUS, established in 2021 to give Australia nuclear submarine technology, follows similar approaches from Japan and South Korea to join a second pillar collaborating on military technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

“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,” Mr Blair said, adding that conversations would continue next month.

Render of the SSN-AUKUS Nuclear-Powered Submarine. Credit: BAE Systems

“It’s an important opportunity for us to have a conversation among the G7 partners about some of the activities that are deeply concerning to Japan and to Canada and to the United States and others,” he told the outlet.

It comes after Japan also vowed to bolster military ties with Australia during a high-ranking visit last week.

Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Defence Minister Minoru Kihara met their Australian counterparts in Melbourne and agreed to greater air force co-operation and expanded military exercises.

“Amid the increasingly difficult security environment in the Indo-Pacific, we need to constantly raise Japan-Australia security co-operation to a new height,” Kamikawa said after the meeting, touting a “like-minded partnership”.