Policy drift Questions mount in region over Aukus pact

It was initially seen as an audacious enlistment by Joe Biden of Australia into the 21st-century struggle against China, elevating the country to a regional military power and giving substance to Global Britain and its tilt to the Indo-Pacific.

But since then the “ruckus” about Aukus, as Boris Johnson described it, has not stopped. If this was the start of a new “anti-hegemonic coalition” to balance China’s rise, it has not quite blown up on the launchpad, but nor has it taken off smoothly.

At the heart of the matter is Australia’s announcement on 16 September that it was ditching its A$90bn ($65.3bn) “deal of the century” contract to buy 12 diesel-powered submarines from France, and was instead buying eight nuclear-propelled submarines from the US and the UK.

This duplicity enraged France, once Australia’s trusted partner in the Indo-Pacific, and required an apology from Biden. Now, as each day passes