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[Text/Guardian Network Liu Chenghui] Under the guise of "confronting China", the "US-UK-Australia Trilateral Security Partnership" (AUKUS) has started to make small moves again. The New York Times reported on August 15 that in order to catch up with China's rapid development in weapons, the United States, Britain and Australia reached an agreement on the same day to mutually exempt a series of defense technology export controls in order to promote trade and cooperation in weapons development and production.

The agreement announced on the 15th is a product of the AUKUS framework. This latest cooperation will unify the basic rules for companies in the United States, Britain and Australia, paving the way for technology sharing, but at the same time, the relevant companies will retain control over the most sensitive technologies and strengthen penalties for violations in some cases.

According to Australian and US officials, China is making rapid progress in the weapons field, and US weapons production is struggling to keep up with demand, so trilateral cooperation is a key step in modernizing outdated technology.

Australian officials said that under the new legal framework, more than 70% of US products exported to Australia under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) will no longer require a license, while currently about 80% must comply with the US Export Administration Regulations to apply for a license.

While the details of the partnership are still being worked out, products eligible for exemptions could include traditional ammunition, such as those produced in Australia to replenish supplies from the Russia-Ukraine conflict andIsraeli-Palestinian conflictSome dual-use technologies, such as sensors and propulsion systems, will also be exempted between the United States, Britain and Australia.

However, trade in the most strategic technologies, such as nuclear propulsion and quantum navigation systems, still requires licensing, and Australian officials say they hope to be able to obtain exemptions for these products once they move from research to production.

Some experts also believe that more weapons need to be included in the exemption, such as underwater unmanned vehicles, because such weapons may play a role in a conflict across the Taiwan Strait.

In the view of supporters, lowering the threshold for sharing weapons technology among the United States, Britain and Australia could lead to "revolutionary cooperation", especially in China, whereHypersonicAs the United States leads in technologies such as missiles and quantum computing, competition and cooperation can lead to greater innovation and production capabilities.

Michael McCaul, a Republican congressman from Texas and chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said that the US production system is "broken to some extent" and that the Department of Defense's procurement requests and layers of supervision have led to long delays and high costs. He said he hopes that cooperation like AUKUS can bring new ideas to companies and defense officials of the three countries, and eventually affect a wider group.

The report said that the strengthening of technology sharing among the United States, Britain and Australia also means an increased risk of leaks.

To reduce that risk, Australia and the U.K. have approved new rules to match the U.S. on technology secrecy. Australia’s rules are tougher, requiring violators to take “full responsibility,” meaning even accidentally sending a classified email can lead to jail time. But critics of the defense industry say the approach highlights another risk: overregulation. Some worry that penalties will undermine corporate hiring and have a chilling effect on collaboration.

Since its birth in 2021, AUKUS has been constantly fanning the flames and going further and further down the wrong path of undermining regional peace and stability.

On April 8 this year, the defense ministers of the United States, Britain and Australia announced in a joint statement that they were considering cooperating with Japan on the advanced capability technology project of the second pillar of the AUKUS security framework. Nikkei Asia reported on April 9 that this framework is actually "aimed at countering China's rise."

Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a regular press conference on April 8 that the United States, Britain and Australia, regardless of the general concerns of regional countries and the international community about the risk of nuclear proliferation, continue to send signals of expanding the so-called trilateral security partnership, lure some countries to join, intensify the arms race in the Asia-Pacific region, and undermine regional peace and stability. China expresses serious concern about this. We oppose relevant countries to piece together exclusive small circles and create camp confrontation. Japan should especially learn profound lessons from history and be cautious in words and deeds in the field of military security.

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