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Beijing says AUKUS creation abused loophole in international law

The spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry noted that the aim of the states involved in the establishment of new security partnership was to openly proliferate nuclear weapons

Chinese Foreign Ministry Hua Chunying EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG

Chinese Foreign Ministry Hua Chunying

© EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG

BEIJING, September 29. /TASS/. The creation of AUKUS, a trilateral security pact in the Indo-Pacific Region by Australia, the UK, and the US, came as a result of efforts aimed at deliberately abusing a loophole in international law, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry Hua Chunying told a regular briefing on Wednesday.

"Simply put, it is a situation when three states conspired to abuse a loophole in international law to openly proliferate nuclear weapons," she said. "The IAEA guarantees and monitoring of Australian nuclear submarines will create a precedent which will affect rights and obligations of all NPT signatories and cause far-reaching consequences for the international non-proliferation regime," the diplomat added.

"It is in no way an issue to be addressed by the IAEA Secretariat with Australia, the UK, and the US. It is a problem that should be settled by all states that participate in this mechanism," she concluded.

On September 15, Australia, the UK and the US announced the establishment of a new security partnership — AUKUS. Under the agreement, Canberra plans to build at least eight US-designed nuclear-powered submarines. The move led to the scrapping of a defense contract with France, which was the biggest Australia ever inked.

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