How AUKUS Plus could add to Indo-Pacific coalition building | East Asia Forum
1 November 2023 Author: Kei Koga, NTU
The idea of ‘AUKUS Plus’ has re-emerged after the UK Foreign Affairs Committee issued a 2023 report saying the United Kingdom should extend cooperation ‘to partners such as Japan and South Korea’ as part of AUKUS ‘Strand B’ — or ‘Pillar Two’. This strand focuses on military technology cooperation with close allies on cyber warfare, artificial intelligence, quantum and undersea innovations, hypersonics and counter-hypersonics, electronic warfare capabilities and further information sharing.
While ‘Pillar One’ — which is concerned with nuclear-powered submarine building — remains exclusive to AUKUS’ core of Australia, United Kingdom and the United States, the possibility of Pillar Two cooperation has opened public discussion about partnership enlargement. Neither such cooperation nor enlargement will materialise anytime soon unless there is an abrupt shift in the Indo-Pacific’s balance of power.
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