Kurt Campbell, US President Joe Biden's top Indo-Pacific adviser, accused China of waging "dramatic economic warfare" against Australia, further arguing that Beijing wants to "break Australia, to drive Australia to its knees", The Guardian reported on Wednesday, 1 December.
Campbell, who is also responsible for coordinating Indo-Pacific affairs for the US National Security Council, plays a key role in the formulation of the AUKUS pact that caused a huge controversy between France, Australia, and the US.
Campbell also said that President Biden had, in his latest virtual meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, talked about Beijing’s hostile trade policies against Australian exports.
Talking about the AUKUS deal, Campbell said Australia and the US were going to "operate and share perspectives much more" than they had in the past, and that the pact was "meant to be additive and create new capacities".
"I think what I’m suggesting is that Australian sailors will have the opportunity to serve on American vessels and vice versa. I think you can expect American submarines to port more commonly in Australian ports," Campbell added.
France had accused the US and Australia of betraying its trust when Australia cancelled a $40 billion contract with it consisting the sale of conventional submarines
As an alternative, Australia bought nuclear powered submarines from the US in a move that led to the creation of a trilateral alliance between Australia, the UK, and the US know as AUKUS.
The pact is widely been perceived as a western attempt to curtail rising Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific.
(With inputs from The Guardian)
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