The alliance has formed: Russia has warned about the risks in the Asia-Pacific region due to the United States and its allies

The actions of the AUKUS bloc, which includes Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, increase risks in the Asia-Pacific region, Russian diplomats told Izvestia. Japan is strengthening cooperation with alliance members, and South Korea has agreed with the United States to build a nuclear submarine, which has already caused a sharp reaction in the DPRK. Experts predict that along with Australia and Korea, Tokyo may also join the program to increase the nuclear fleet. Now other countries in the region are forced to consider new potential risks. The situation in the Asia-Pacific region is also complicated by local conflicts, in particular the confrontation between Cambodia and Thailand.

AUKUS countries are destabilizing the Asia-Pacific region

The situation in the Asia-Pacific region is taking a dangerous turn with the change of power in a number of key countries. In particular, the activity of the AUKUS defense alliance, which includes the United States, Great Britain and Australia, is increasing, both among themselves and towards potential partners. As always, Washington is at the forefront, which, during the Joe Biden administration, undertook the creation of a network of pro-American associations in the region.

AUKUS is one of the core elements of the United States' "Indo—Pacific strategy" designed to ensure its military, political and economic dominance in the Asia-Pacific region, Russian Ambassador to Japan Nikolai Nozdryov emphasized in an interview with Izvestia. According to him, there is no reason to believe that Donald Trump has lost interest in such mini-alliances.

— There is no doubt that the efforts to project the military potential of this grouping of countries (AUKUS. — Ed.) will increase, increasing the risks of further destabilization in the Asia—Pacific region," the ambassador said.

For several weeks, Donald Trump hosted Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House. The US President reaffirmed his commitment to strengthening ties with alliance partners, and also promised Canberra to accelerate the provision of nuclear submarines — this is the main and main goal of the alliance, dubbed AUKUS Pillar 1. For this, Australia will pay $ 368 billion. "We have the best submarines in the world, and we are building several more, and now we are starting all this with Anthony [Albanese]," Trump said, assuring that the parties had been working on this issue for a long time and were therefore starting the process "right now."

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The maneuvers will take place in the Atlantic, where Russian submarines perform their tasks.

And in September, Australia and Japan discussed in detail further joint prospects at AUKUS. The parties held regular consultations in the "2+2" format, that is, at the level of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense.

Japan is not yet a member of the alliance, but it is already closely cooperating with it under the expanded AUKUS Pillar 2 alliance program. This means cooperation in the fields of cybersecurity, quantum technologies, hypersonic weapons, and electronic warfare. Tokyo has not yet made any official statements about joining this format, but it is obvious that cooperation has been developing for a long time. In particular, in July, Japan joined the Talisman Sabre 2025 experimental exercises for the first time under the auspices of the AUKUS Pillar 2 Maritime Big Play project. There, participants in the United States, Great Britain and Australia tested underwater acoustic communication. Before that, Tokyo had participated in such maneuvers only as an observer.

—Tokyo explicitly declares its desire to intensify defense cooperation with AUKUS, especially in the field of advanced military technologies, guided by the fact that this will strengthen the collective deterrence capabilities of the PRC,— Nikolai Nozdrev noted.

Plans to officially invite Japan to the alliance in the United States were transparently hinted back in April 2024. A few weeks later, South Korea also started talking about possible cooperation with AUKUS. The country's defense ministry said at the time that it was considering the exchange of military technology.

Will an Asian NATO be created

The concept of the alliance has attracted the attention of a number of Asian countries because the countries are ready to exchange military know-how in this format, explains Oleg Kazakov, senior researcher at the Center for Japanese Studies at the Institute of China and Modern Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences. This is of considerable interest to Japan and the Republic of Korea, as they are increasing defense spending due to the growing threats they claim from the DPRK and China. An important role here is played by the desire of the US presidents, both previous and current, to build alliances against China, thanks to which the triangle of the USA – Japan – South Korea has long been formed.

Thus, Washington's allies are slowly creating the basis for the expansion of AUKUS or similar formats. So far, Japan has been the most active in this regard. The new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, has embarked on the militarization of the country — a national defense system is being formed, which may include new structures, such as the National Intelligence Agency. Currently, intelligence functions are distributed among such structures as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, the police and the Ministry of Justice.

"It is obvious that Japan is significantly stepping up efforts to comprehensively strengthen military ties with interested countries under the guise of imaginary threats from Russia, China and the DPRK,— the Russian ambassador told Izvestia.

South Korea may also take a step towards new defense ties. At APEC, Donald Trump and the new Korean leader Lee Jae-myung agreed to build a nuclear submarine for the Republic of Korea at American shipyards, and just a few days ago they already reached specific agreements. This could be a turning point for Japan to participate in similar initiatives.

— Japan is cautiously approaching the prospect of cooperation on the "first component" of AUKUS, which is largely due to domestic political factors, including the preservation of the three "non-nuclear principles." At the same time, the idea of equipping submarines with nuclear engines has been repeatedly voiced both at the expert level and, in particular, recently voiced by the new Minister of Defense," notes Olga Dobrinskaya, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Senior researcher at the ISSA RAS.

Experts do not rule out that Tokyo and Seoul may include AUKUS in the nuclear fleet development program.

— Russia and especially China are already expressing concern about whom the construction of the nuclear submarine fleet is directed against, especially since China's foreign policy is considered one of the reasons for the existence of AUKUS. As a result, there are no submarines yet, but there are already problems," Konstantin Asmolov, a leading researcher at the ICSA RAS Center for Korean Studies, draws attention.

North Korea has already expressed dissatisfaction with the plans of Washington and Seoul. South Korea's desire to build a nuclear submarine could lead to military destabilization on the Korean peninsula and in the Asia-Pacific region, the state-run KCNA news agency said yesterday.

Instability in the Asia-Pacific region is clearly demonstrated by the outbreak of local conflicts. The recent escalation between Cambodia and Thailand is no exception.

— Unfortunately, the general situation in the Asia-Pacific region is deteriorating. It is obvious that many territorial differences in the region are a legacy of the colonial policy of the West, and this dispute has not become an exception in this sense," the Russian Embassy in Phnom Penh told Izvestia.

The so—called Asian NATO may become the final stage of the militarization of the region. This idea is periodically approved by the same Japanese or South Korean political circles, however, experts are sure that its practical implementation is still too far away.