AUKUS: Beijing is enraged by the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom's submarine agreement.

"…a new security alliance that will support a free and open Indo-Pacific that is secure and stable".

Beijing: China warned the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia on Tuesday that they have "gone further down a wrong and dangerous road" with their nuclear submarine agreement, in which Washington will sell five nuclear-powered vessels to Canberra and the three countries will jointly develop a fleet.

The agreement will "stimulate an arms race, weaken the international nuclear non-proliferation system, and harm regional peace and stability," said Wang Wenbin, a spokeswoman for China's foreign ministry.

The three nations declared their "determination to support Australia's acquisition of conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines" in a joint statement on Monday (SSNs). Now, we announce our plan to acquire this vital competency".

The three nations launched the AUKUS in September 2021, describing it as "...a new security cooperation that will support a free and open Indo-Pacific that is secure and stable," according to yesterday's joint statement.

The AUKUS alliance was formed to enhance the US, British, and Australian presence in the Indo-Pacific in order to oppose China's expansion in a region where Beijing has been growing its naval footprint.

The submarine contract was described as "the first significant endeavour of AUKUS and our historic trilateral decision" in a joint statement.

China is enraged by the agreement.

Beijing has often accused the AUKUS and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, both of which include India and Japan in addition to the US and Australia, of attempting to encircle it.

"China has repeatedly stated that the AUKUS pact, as well as the three countries' efforts to advance cooperation on nuclear submarines and other cutting-edge military technology, is typical cold war mentality," Wang said, adding that it will fuel an arms race, undermine the international non-proliferation regime, and harm regional peace and stability.

"The three nations' newest unified declaration demonstrates that, in pursuit of geopolitical selfish interests, the three countries may reject the international community's concerns, and they are travelling down a hazardous and incorrect path," Wang added.

"Their collaboration concerns the transfer from nuclear weapons nations to non-nuclear weapons states of huge volumes of weapons grade uranium. It raises major nuclear proliferation dangers and breaches the NPT's (The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, often known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT) aims and objectives," Wang added.

According to the AUKUS joint statement, Washington aims to sell three Virginia class submarines to Australia beginning in the early 2030s, with the option to sell up to two more if necessary.

They will also collaborate on submarine development.

"Together, we will deliver SSN-AUKUS — a trilaterally designed submarine based on the United Kingdom's next-generation design that combines technology from all three nations, including cutting-edge US submarine capabilities," the statement said.

“This step will systematically grow Australia’s sovereign SSN capability and support capacity. In the late 2030s, the United Kingdom will deliver its first SSN-AUKUS to the Royal Navy. Australia will deliver the first SSN-AUKUS built in Australia to the Royal Australian Navy in the early 2040s,” the joint statement added.

I obtained all of my information from HindustanTimes.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/aukus-us-australia-and-uk-submarine-pact-has-beijing-fuming-101678799904664.html