The trilateral partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States (AUKUS) is a ‘narrow pact’ incapable of serving as a platform for providing security in the Asia-Pacific region, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

“We are closely monitoring all of these processes,” Peskov told journalists in response to a question about the previously extended invitation to Japan to join AUKUS.

“However, such alliances fail to become inclusive judging by their positioning, aims and tasks, and they definitely end up with a formation of ‘narrow pacts,’ which are highly unlikely to grow into a broad platform for providing stability and security in such vast regions [the Asia-Pacific region],” he added.

Japan’s Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported on Tuesday that the government of Japan had been receiving informal proposals for the country to join the trilateral defense partnership of AUKUS. According to the daily, Tokyo still keeps receiving proposals to join the newly-established regional organization, AUKUS, from all of its three member states.

On September 15, 2021, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States announced the creation of a new trilateral security partnership called AUKUS, under which Australia was to build at least eight nuclear-powered submarines with the help of US technologies with the first of them expected to enter service in 2036.

Malaysia and Indonesia as the largest states in Southeast Asia criticized these plans, highlighting that they would continue joint efforts to preserve the region’s non-nuclear status. Kuala Lumpur also said that Australia would be required to request special permission for its submarines to call at local ports or participate in maneuvers in the areas adjacent to territorial waters.

Source: Agencies