Background Briefing: September 16, 2021
China’s Reaction to the AUKUS Deal Between the U.S., U.K., and Australia
We begin with the AUKUS deal announced by President Biden on Wednesday in a virtual meeting with UK Prime Minister Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Morrison which involves sharing nuclear submarine technology and cyber capabilities in an effort to counter China’s growing military presence in the Indo/Pacific region. June Dreyer, a professor of Political Science at the University of Miami specializing in International Relations, Asian-Pacific political and economic systems, Chinese government and foreign policy, and U.S. defense policy joins us. She was the Asia Advisor to the Chief of Naval Operations and is the author of China’s Political System: Modernization and Tradition and we discuss the testy 90 minute conversation Biden had with Xi Jinping last week which is likely to add tensions to next week’s meeting of the the leaders of the Quad (the U.S., Japan, India and Australia) and we assess what is behind the Chinese Communist Party government’s crackdown on wealthy entrepreneurs, celebrities and what they call “sissy-man stars” and whether Xi Jinping is trying to distract the populace from worsening economic conditions by coming up with his own version of Mao’s cultural revolution.
French Fury at Australia For Cancelling a $66 Billion Submarine Deal
Then we examine further the Aukus deal which has the French furious at Australia for cancelling a $66 billion submarine deal signed in 2016 which, in order to confront China, has turned into what the French see as the Anglo-Saxon world confronting France, increasing tensions between the U.S. and its NATO allies. Joining us is Max Bergmann, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, who served in the U.S. Department of State as a member of the Secretary of State’s policy planning staff; special assistant to the undersecretary for arms control and international security; speechwriter to then-Secretary of State John Kerry; and senior adviser to the assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs.