AUSSIE SHIFT TO NUCLEAR SUBS HIGHLIGHTS CONCERN OVER CHINA

PARIS—Australia’s decision to buy nuclear-powered submarines from the United States and Britain has highlighted concerns over China’s growing maritime might in the Pacific.

Justifying ditching a deal with France for conventional submarines, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said it was “not a change of mind, it’s a change of need.”

AFP takes a look at the balance of power in the region.

China has the largest navy in the world, according to the US Department of Defense.

At the end of 2020, the Chinese navy’s “battle force ships” were approximately 360, compared to the United States’ 297, according to the US Office of Naval Intelligence. It projected China’s navy to increase to 400 ships in 2025 and 425 in 2030.

Five of the United States’ 11 aircraft carriers are in the Pacific.

But China has started construction on its third aircraft carrier and is building more destroyers.

According to defense experts Janes, between 2015 and 2019, China built 132 vessels— compared to the United States’ 68, India’s 48, Japan’s 29 and Australia’s nine.

France built 17 ships in the same time, while Britain made four, two of which were aircraft carriers.

In four years, China launched the equivalent of the French naval fleet, according to Adm. Pierre Vandier, chief of staff of the French Navy.

Beijing has six nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) armed with nuclear missiles, as well as some 40 attack submarines, according to an annual global assessment of military capacity.

For its part, Washington has 21 attack submarines and eight SSBNs in the Pacific, according to the US Navy. Australia has six diesel-electric submarines that have been in service since the mid-1990s.

It had been due to buy 12 French-made state-of-the-art attack vessels but the deal has been scrapped in favor of a fleet of nuclear-powered subs with US help.