Australia’s future nuclear-powered submarines could operate near Taiwan and a group of Japan-controlled islands and act as a deterrent to China in the region, said former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who negotiated the technology acquisition deal with the United States and Britain.
While acknowledging that sending the submarines to those specific locations was not necessarily the reason behind Australia’s push for nuclear-powered submarines, Morrison said in an interview in Sydney on Thursday that the Taiwan Strait and the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea “present potential flashpoints and conflicts which could very much draw Australia in,” given its own interests.
“The point about nuclear-powered submarines is they can go anywhere, and they can go anywhere you need them to go, and to do so stealthily,” said the former Australian prime minister, who, along with U.S. and British leaders, announced the launch of the AUKUS security partnership in 2021.
“We sought a capability that enabled us to go anywhere, which would include those places if needed,” he added.
Former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison gives an interview in Sydney on March 27, 2025. (Kyodo)
Under the three-way partnership, Australia plans to purchase nuclear-powered submarines from the United States starting in the early 2030s and deliver its first domestically built vessels in the early 2040s. The acquisition is part of the three countries’ efforts to counter China’s naval expansion and territorial ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region.
The move comes amid growing pressure from China on Taiwan, a self-ruled democratic island that Beijing considers its own territory.
Taiwan is viewed as a potential military flashpoint that could draw the United States into conflict with China, an eventuality that would pose serious security challenges for Japan given the proximity of its far-flung islands, including the uninhabited Senkakus, which Beijing claims and calls Diaoyu.
Japan, a key U.S. security ally, will also benefit from the AUKUS partnership, Morrison said, noting that there will be “more nuclear-powered submarines available for deployment, particularly in the Indo-Pacific theater.”
“It helps to ensure a deterrent that provides stability in the region, which allows everybody to get on, trade, have normal relations, and that includes with China, by the way,” he said.
Japan has deepened its defense cooperation with Australia in recent years, signing a renewed joint security declaration in 2022 that committed both countries to “consult each other on contingencies that may affect our sovereignty and regional security interests, and consider measures in response.”
Under Morrison’s tenure between 2018 and 2022, ties between Australia and China increasingly soured, including over human rights concerns and Morrison’s call for an independent review into the coronavirus pandemic, leading to several trade disputes.
Touching on the Quad, a four-nation framework that also includes the United States, Japan and India, Morrison expressed concern that the grouping has “drifted,” suggesting a lack of momentum among the leaders to meet and hold substantive discussions to deepen cooperation.
The 56-year-old, who retired from politics in February last year, said he was encouraged by the Quad foreign ministers’ meeting following U.S. President Donald Trump’s second inauguration in January this year, but emphasized that the group’s power lies in a leaders’ gathering.
The Quad’s origins date back to when the four countries coordinated their emergency responses and humanitarian aid following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, elevated the Quad to the leader level in 2021, and its areas of cooperation have expanded, ranging from maritime safety and infrastructure to health security and emerging technologies.
Morrison highlighted space cooperation, including launch platforms and satellite usage, as well as security, as areas for further collaboration.
On the economic front, he said he was “totally opposed” to China joining a trans-Pacific free trade pact, which Australia and Japan are part of, and that he would be “particularly anxious” about the admission of China before the United States.
“As long as the United States is not in that agreement, then there’s no way you could contemplate China being in that agreement,” Morrison said, adding that it would be “very much against our economic and security interests in the region.”
China applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2021, but doubts remain over whether the Asian economy, often accused of market-distorting practices such as extensive subsidies, can meet the pact’s high trade standards.
Related coverage:
Japan sets up new SDF command to unify defense force operations
Japan says no shift in U.S. alliance despite Trump budget cut plans
Japan MSDF frigate makes port call in Australia amid contract bid