[Answered] AUKUS will trigger multiple strategic consequences for Asia, including India. Substantiate.

AUKUS is a trilateral security partnership between the United States of America, Australia, United Kingdom in the Indo-Pacific region. The UK and the US will help Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

Strategic consequences for Asia:

• According to the Indian Observers, the partnership is much beneficial for India. As India has been at the forefront of rallying a broader coalition of countries in the Indo-Pacific.
• AUKUS is in essence about transforming Australia’s strategic capabilities and making it a powerful factor in shaping the Indo-Pacific regional security environment.
• AUKUS will see a deeper partnership between the US, UK, and Australia in developing a range of underwater technologies to cope with the dramatic expansion of Chinese naval capabilities in the Indo-Pacific.
• The AUKUS also involves collaboration between the three countries in a range of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computingthat will shape regional security scenarios.
• This may also open the door for greater S&T cooperation between India and Australia which may eventually expand to cover sensitive strategic areas.
• AUKUS has reinvigorated the idea of an “Anglosphere” that speaks of the enduring geopolitical bonds between the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. India is now seeing a rapid expansion of its ties with the English-speaking world.
• The AUKUS arrangement will look beyond information sharing to the integration of the technological and defence industrial bases of the three countries.
• The US is now boosting the military capabilities of Japan and South Korea and seeking to build a deeper partnership with India on strategic technologies.
• AUKUS which is perceived as an anti-China grouping by China may lead to erosion of regional stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

Though AUKUS offers the advantage of balance of power, strategic autonomy and a check on Chinese aggression, it also has significant challenges as it has been termed as Indo-Pacific NATO. Hence, to progress with consultations and collaborations will be a prudent way forward.