AUKUS: an Agreement to make your Friends your Enemies

Author(s) : Adnan Haider

Abstract:

It is scribbled in the pages of history that many well-disposed efforts such as, making alliances to reverse the rivalries end up failing or even worsening the situations because of the complexity of the trust operation in relationships. This can aptly be identified in the recent Anglo-Saxon alliance, formally known as AUKUS agreement. Ostensibly, AUKUS is a trilateral security agreement among Britain, America and Australia (O’Connor, Cox, & Cooper, 2021). This trilateral military agreement aimed at augmenting the security in the Indo-Pacific region. America with the help of Britain planned to ensure regional security by providing Australia with Nuclear powered submarines and also aiding in cyber capacities, quantum technologies and artificial intelligence. But it has stronger and deeper messages for the world that need keen attentions. AUKUS agreement aptly illustrates that even the closest of friends can become your enemies when the economic concerns are at stake. This article encompasses around the paradoxical statement that ‘an alliance to make your friends your enemies’ and also tries to substantiate it with two things. First, being the robust and aggressive reaction to this agreement by France, calling it “stabbing in the back” and second, mixed and perturbed reactions of other states (Vock, 2021). This agreement also carries both negative and serious Nuclear Proliferation concerns that also put question mark on the security of the region in future.