How a Western Military Pact for Nuclear Subs Affects China

SAN FRANCISCO — The United States, United Kingdom and Australia on Thursday announced what the Royal Australian Navy describes on its website as an "enhanced trilateral security partnership" known as AUKUS (Australia, U.K. and U.S.). It says Australia will get at least eight nuclear-powered submarines, to be built domestically using American technology. The use of nuclear-powered Australian submarines in the Indo-Pacific has angered China by threatening to curb its expansion in the same waterways, experts say. The three-country security deal came after Australia pulled out of an earlier deal with France for diesel-electric submarines, angering Paris. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves…