India was informed of AUKUS: Australian envoy
The Hindu
Canberra responding to challenging strategic environment, he says
Australia had informed India at the highest levels of the new enhanced trilateral security partnership with the U.S. and the U.K. -- AUKUS -- before it was formally announced, Australian High Commissioner Barry O’Farrell said on Friday.
The decision for the partnership reflected a much more “challenging strategic environment,” which they shared with India, where “great power competition is intensifying,” and territorial tensions in the South China Sea, Taiwan and elsewhere were becoming “more challenging.”
Mr. O’Farrell stated in a virtual media briefing, “We want to contribute to strategic reassurance measures that ensure no one country believes they can advance their strategic ambitions through conflict. It’s not about seeking to provoke any particular regional power, rather it’s about ensuring we have the capabilities that contribute along with India and other countries to deterring the types of behaviour that threatens the peace and security in the Indo-Pacific today and in the future.”