South Korea is considering sharing advanced military technology with the US, the UK and Australia through the so-called AUKUS partnership, South Korean Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik said yesterday.
The possibility was discussed during two days of meetings between South Korea and Australia’s defense and foreign ministers that ended in Melbourne yesterday, Shin said.
The US and the UK in 2021 agreed to provide Australia with a fleet of submarines powered by US nuclear technology under the AUKUS agreement to counter a growing military presence from China. AUKUS is an acronym for Australia, the UK and the US.
Photo: AFP
The countries could become involved in cooperation on a wider range of security technologies including artificial intelligence, electronic warfare and hypersonic systems through what is known as AUKUS Pillar II.
Shin welcomed South Korea’s invitation from the three AUKUS partners.
“We do welcome that AUKUS members are considering [South] Korea as an AUKUS Pillar II partner and Korea’s defense science and technology capabilities will contribute to the peace and stability of the development of AUKUS Pillar 2 and regional peace,” Shin said.
Japan is also moving toward formal talks to become part of AUKUS Pillar II’s technology development and sharing.
Australian Minister for Defense Richard Marles welcomed South Korean efforts to build on its relationship with Japan, which along with Australia, the US and India form a security dialogue known as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.
“We see this is a very, very positive step forward in the strategic landscape of the region and represents a huge opportunity for Australia to engage with both [South] Korea and Japan,” Marles told reporters.
“[South] Korea and Australia are working together to uphold the rules-based order within our region and, in fact, within the world,” Marles added.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79
RSS