US and Australian officials have rejected concerns that a political fight in Washington could damage Canberra’s efforts to procure nuclear-powered submarines as agreed in the landmark 2021 Aukus deal.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Saturday in Brisbane that there was “robust bipartisan support” for Aukus, a trilateral agreement that includes the UK and is designed to counter China in the Indo-Pacific.
Blinken’s comments, which followed an annual bilateral meeting of defence and foreign ministers, came days after 25 Republican senators urged the Biden administration to inject more money into the US domestic submarine industrial base, which is suffering critical production constraints.