Australia will build eight nuclear-powered submarines under an Indo-Pacific security partnership with the United States and Britain that analysts say will likely rile China, which denounced the creation of blocs intent on harming others.
Australia will be only the second country after Britain in 1958 to be given access to U.S. nuclear technology to build nuclear-powered submarines.
In announcing the new security group on Wednesday, the leaders of the United States, Australia and Britain did not mention China, but Washington and its allies are seeking to push back against its growing power and influence, particularly its military buildup, pressure on Taiwan and deployments in the contested South China Sea.
China’s U.S. embassy said that countries “should not build exclusionary blocs targeting or harming the interests of third parties”.
“In particular, they should shake off their Cold-War mentality and ideological prejudice,” it said.