Former Australian PM on submarine deal with US: ‘It must be the worst deal in all history’

Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating said on Wednesday that his country’s recently announced agreement to obtain three nuclear-powered submarines from the U.S. “must be the worst deal in all history.”

Keating lamented that the agreement, which is aimed at bolstering Australia’s defense capabilities amid rising tensions with China, would not serve any useful purpose.

“The only way the Chinese could threaten Australia or attack it is on land. That is, they bring an armada of troop ships with a massive army to occupy us,” Keating said at a National Press Club event, according to The Associated Press. “This is not possible for the Chinese to do.”

He called the agreement, expected to cost Canberra between 268 billion and 368 billion Australian dollars, or $178 billion and $245 billion, the worst international decision by the Australian Labor Party in more than 100 years. Keating led the party in the early 1990s.

“The idea that we need American submarines to protect us,” he said, adding, “Three are going to protect us from the might of China. Really? I mean, the rubbish of it. The rubbish.”

The White House announced on Monday that it would provide Canberra with at least three Virginia-class submarines, enhance training with Australian submariners, initiate submarine patrols in Australian waters and assist Canberra in building its own nuclear-powered submarine.

The agreement — formalized by President Biden, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at an event in San Diego on Monday — is part of the relatively new partnership between the three countries, called AUKUS.

Albanese, who is also a member of the Labor Party, touted the deal as “the biggest single investment in Australia’s defense capability in all of our history.”

“We embark with great confidence in the capacity and creativity of our people, with optimism for the power of what our partnership can be,” he said. “And with an unwavering conviction that whatever the challenges ahead, the cause of peace and freedom that we share will prevail.”

Beijing slammed the agreement as another step “down the wrong and dangerous path” for the U.S. and its allies, accusing the trio of a “typical Cold War mentality.”

“The latest joint statement issued by the U.S., U.K., and Australia shows that the three countries have gone further down the wrong and dangerous path for their own geopolitical self-interest, completely ignoring the concerns of the international community,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday.