On September 15, 2021, Australia abandoned a $90-billion program to build French-designed conventional diesel-electric submarines. Instead, Australia would embark on a new trilateral security partnership with the U.S. and the U.K. to produce nuclear-powered, but conventionally armed, submarines. 

What drove Australia to spurn a good partner and burn an existing project that had been in the works for five years? 

Australia’s government decided that it desperately needed the extra stealth and stamina nuclear-fueled submarines provide. And while Canberra didn’t say why, exactly, the reason was clear to anyone who was paying attention.

China is building up its military, especially its navy, at an astonishing speed, and expanding its reach into the Pacific – right up to Australia’s own waters. And Australia decided it needed to respond with its own military build-up.

Over the last five years, as AUKUS has taken shape, the dynamics behind regional security have continued to evolve. With the second-coming of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency, many of his predecessor’s initiatives have been dismantled. But not AUKUS.

Today on The Diplomat Asia we’ll get to the heart of why AUKUS has survived and why AUKUS matters. But first, what exactly is AUKUS?