The Australian Prime Minister said today, Friday, that he is still committed to building a fleet of US nuclear technology submarines, although the French president described the plan as a “confrontation with China.
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The former Australian government angered President Emmanuel Macron last year by canceling a contract for a French -made fleet of traditional powered submarines of $ 90 billion in Australian (66 billion dollars) and instead chose nuclear powered copies in a secretly reached with the United States and Britain .
Prime Minister Anthony Albaniz has committed to the so -called Okos nuclear technology agreement since he took power in the elections in May.
It will be announced whether Australia will choose a version of the American submarine of Virginia or the British Astristian submarine in March.
“We are going on Okos arrangements, there is nothing mysterious about it,” Albaniz told reporters at the Bangkok summit that Macron is also attending.
On Thursday, Macron criticized the Okos agreement, and told reporters that France was offered to Australia, which does not have a nuclear energy industry, diesel and electricity submarines that can be maintained independently.
“She was not in a confrontation with China because it was not nuclear powered submarines,” Macron said through a translator.
Macron added that Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the ancestor of Albanz, chose “the exact opposite: entering into a confrontation by possessing nuclear weapons. ”
When the Okos deal was announced in September last year, the Chinese Foreign Ministry condemned the export of US nuclear technology and described the move as “totally irresponsible. ” Some Australian neighbors fear that this will lead to an arms race in the region.
When asked if Australia creates a nuclear confrontation with China, Albaniz replied: “President Macron has the right to offer his views, as he does in a very frank way. ”
“He has the right to make any comments he wants as a leader of France,” Albaniz added.
Albaniz indicated that there was no bad feeling among the two leaders, saying: “We have had a very friendly talk, as we always do,” when they met Thursday evening in Bangkok..
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