How the Aukus alliance can be boosted by Asian partners

UK defence secretary Grant Shapps has said that consultations on future cooperation between Aukus partners and other nations will begin this year. What assets might Asian allies such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore bring to the table?

Japan is planning to increase its military budget, which could make it the world’s third largest. South Korea has a capable military that has spent decades training and preparing for potential conflict with North Korea. Singapore has well-trained and hi-tech naval and air forces. Deeper relationships with these Asian nations might include more clearly defined security guarantees, enhanced training exercises, joint procurement of advanced weapons systems and stronger collaboration in cyberdefence.

Johnson has even said Canada is the “most obvious next candidate”, in part because it had “fought, often heroically, for freedom” in the past. This week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had already held “excellent conversations” with London, Washington and Canberra about joining the Aukus alliance.

Beyond purely military considerations, supporters of Canada’s membership have pointed to the country’s huge supply of critical natural minerals. It is argued that this would allow countries in Aukus to be less reliant on Chinese exports.

One key benefit of Canada joining Aukus would be access to new submarines to protect the Canadian coastline. Canada has the longest coastline in the world which runs along the Arctic, a region under significant geopolitical scrutiny from a number of nations. The next phase of Aukus could be centred around sharing hypersonic, quantum computing and undersea technology.

A key challenge for collaboration, however, for Asian nations outside Aukus, are US