One measure of the potential impact of the Australia-United Kingdom-United States (AUKUS) security agreement unveiled last week is the outrage it has generated in China.
While that country’s name was never mentioned during the virtual trilateral summit hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden, the Beijing government has assumed that the deal targets China and is designed to contain its influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
Chinese concerns are valid. The new agreement seeks to better deter, and if need be, defend against revisionist powers in this region. If that describes Chinese behavior, then it is a target. Indeed, AUKUS could be the most important restructuring of regional security architecture in half a century. That potential can only be realized, however, if the AUKUS triumvirate expands their vision to include other powers.
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