Beijing:

China warned on Tuesday that Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States were on a “path of error and danger” after revealing a nuclear-powered submarine deal.

“The latest joint statement by the US, UK and Australia shows that the three countries, for the sake of their own geopolitical interests, are completely ignoring the concerns of the international communities and are moving further and further down the path of error and danger.” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.

Australia announced on Monday that it would buy up to five US nuclear-powered submarines and then build a new model using US and British technology as part of an ambitious plan to build Western muscle in the Asia-Pacific in the face of a emerging China.

US President Joe Biden has stressed that Australia, which joined a newly formed alliance with Washington and London known as AUKUS 18 months ago, will not receive nuclear weapons.

However, the acquisition of submarines powered by nuclear reactors puts Australia in an elite club and at the forefront of US-led efforts to counter Chinese military expansion.

Wang accused the three Western allies of inciting an arms race on Tuesday, saying the security deal was “a typical case of Cold War mentality.”

The sale of submarines “constitutes a serious nuclear proliferation risk and is contrary to the objectives of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” Wang said at a regular news conference.

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