Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will publish a response to Early Day Motion 493 on US-UK-Australia military pact.
The enhanced security partnership agreed between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States (AUKUS) is a concrete articulation of the UK's ambition, made in the Integrated Review, to deepen defence, security and foreign policy ties with like-minded allies across the globe. It will help promote stability and security in the Indo-Pacific region. The first initiative under AUKUS will be a collaboration on future nuclear powered submarines for the Royal Australian Navy. The proposed submarines use a nuclear reactor uniquely as a power source. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty does not prohibit the use of nuclear propulsion technology. The US and the UK take their obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty extremely seriously. Australia remains committed to fulfilling all of its obligations as a non-nuclear weapons state, including with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Our three nations are deeply committed to upholding our leadership on global non-proliferation.