AUKUS subs ‘could be deployed against China’, Kurt Campbell says

Joe Biden’s No. 2 diplomat says Australia’s future submarines could one day be deployed in a conflict over Taiwan.

US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell. Picture: Getty Images

Joe Biden’s No. 2 diplomat says Australia’s future nuclear-­powered submarines could one day be deployed against China in a conflict over Taiwan.

While the Albanese government has insisted the AUKUS pact won’t require Australia to join a US war against China, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said Australia’s and Britain’s submarines could play a decisive role in a conflict across the Taiwan Strait.

Dr Campbell told Washington’s Centre for a New American Security that the AUKUS pact boats, with their long-range missiles, had “enormous implications in a variety of scenarios, including in cross-strait circumstances”.

“I would argue that working closely with other nations, not just diplomatically but in defence avenues, has the consequence of strengthening peace and stability more generally,” he said.

Dr Campbell’s comments came as Defence Minister Richard Marles said the government wanted to have “the most constructive and productive relationship we can have with China”.

But he also noted: “The way this era of great power contest will unfold is unclear. And the outcome of the contest is uncertain.”

In a warning to Beijing, which treats the South China Sea as its own and flouts international law in the East China Sea and Taiwan Strait, Mr Marles said Australia was determined to preserve “the rules of the road at sea”.

“What is manifestly clear is that Australia and all countries in the Indo-Pacific have a vital interest in maintaining a region where state sovereignty is protected, inter­national law is followed, the global rules-based order is respected, and nations can make decisions free from coercion,” he told the Sydney Institute.

Mr Marles said Labor would ensure the effectiveness of the Australian Defence Force by properly funding it, pledging to reduce “over-programming” of the Defence budget that had risen to 30- 40 per cent under the Coalition.

The government’s Defence investment plan, due to be released before the May budget, would include a swath of tough decisions to “divest, delay, or re-scope projects”, Mr Marles said.

“This reprioritisation will enable the government to accelerate projects that will have the greatest impact on our strategic objectives to deter any potential adversaries from actions against our interests.”

The pledge came as an internal US Navy investigation revealed the Virginia-class submarines Australia hopes to buy from the US could be delayed by up to three years.

The assessment found the navy’s two Virginia-class variants, known as Blocks IV and V, were running 36 months and 24 months late, respectively, “based upon current performance” of US submarine yards.

US Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro commissioned the “45-Day Review” in January to “provide an assessment of national and local causes of shipbuilding challenges”, amid concerns the American industrial base was failing to satisfy US naval demands, let alone those of Australia.

It found every class of vessel under construction was running late, and suggested the navy “refine acquisition and contract strategies and reimagine shipyard and skilled labour as a national asset”.

Despite the warnings over submarine production, Dr Campbell said the US would find a way to deliver its promised three to five ­Virginia-class boats to Australia.

“AUKUS, in many respects, is a game changer. It is basically finding the way forward,” he said.

Dr Campbell confirmed other nations had sought to join the AUKUS pact, hinting that Japan would become part of its “second pillar” dedicated to the development of advanced new weapons.