"Australian Nuclear Submarine Fuel May Be Excluded from Inspection"
China: "Supporting Nuclear Submarines to Non-Nuclear Countries"... Double Standards Controversy
[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), stated that nuclear inspections will likely be very stringent in the transfer of nuclear submarine technology to Australia, which is part of the AUKUS military alliance formed by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia in the Indo-Pacific region. Grossi mentioned that through technical negotiations with the three countries, the IAEA might exceptionally exclude Australian nuclear submarines from inspections, which has sparked controversy over double standards, especially centered on China and others.
On the 28th (local time), Grossi said in an interview with the British BBC that the issue of transferring nuclear submarine technology to Australia under AUKUS is "a very challenging issue from the perspective of nuclear inspections, but it can be managed." Nuclear submarines are known to be subject to IAEA inspections because they use highly enriched uranium, which can be used to make nuclear warheads, as fuel.
Grossi's remarks are interpreted as being aware of the controversy over double standards raised mainly by China and Iran, as Australia, a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), will possess nuclear submarines fueled by highly enriched uranium that can be diverted to nuclear warhead production. Australia is an NPT party and a non-nuclear weapon state, and this is the first time an NPT party officially possesses nuclear submarines.
Grossi said, "In the case of highly enriched uranium supplied to Australia's nuclear submarines, which is an NPT party, there is a possibility of exceptionally excluding it from inspections," adding, "We will enter into complex and technical negotiations with the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia to prevent weakening of the NPT regime."
Earlier, immediately after the launch of AUKUS, the Australian government, aware of the controversy over possessing nuclear capabilities as an NPT party, announced that it would not build any facilities to produce highly enriched uranium domestically and that all uranium used as fuel for nuclear submarines would be imported from the United States.
However, China continues to strongly criticize the IAEA and Western countries for pressuring China with double standards. The day before, Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, pointed out Australia's possession of nuclear submarines in a statement. Representative Zhang criticized, "It is a double standard to force countries that have even a little nuclear weapons to comply with the NPT while supporting countries without nuclear weapons to possess nuclear submarines."
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