Indonesia Sounds Alarm as AUKUS Nuke Submarine Pact Reignites WMD Debate

The 10th Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is set to begin on 1 August at the UN headquarters in New York City, the first meeting since the US and UK announced they would share technologies with Australia to develop nuclear submarines.

Indonesia has voiced its concerns over transferring nuclear materials and technology for military purposes to any non-nuclear weapon state.

Jakarta feels that once the production, use, and disposition of "Highly Enriched Uranium for nuclear naval propulsion" is removed from the control of UN watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, that material could be diverted to a nuclear weapons program.

Jakarta argued that the transfer of nuclear materials and technology could complicate safeguards "needed to prevent risks arising from such arrangements including, but not limited to ... the emergence of new types of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), derived from the combination of nuclear materials and conventional weapons."

In a submission to next week's UN nuclear non-proliferation review conference, Indonesia, without naming AUKUS, said concerns about nuclear naval propulsion deserve serious attention.

"Indonesia notes with concern the potential consequences of sharing nuclear-powered submarine capabilities with the global non-proliferation regime," the document read, underlining it "could potentially set precedence [sic] for other similar arrangements."

Signed in September 2021, AUKUS is a trilateral pact allowing the US and the UK to share state-of-art technologies with Australia to develop nuclear submarines as China's naval capability in the Asia-Pacific region grows.

Indonesia's submission came days after President Joko Widodo visited China, a staunch critic of the AUKUS pact, to sign a series of agreements boosting economic ties between the two countries this week.

On Tuesday, Adam M Scheinman, US Special Representative of the President for Nuclear Non-proliferation, indicated that Washington would counter Beijing's criticism of the trilateral pact during the conference.

"I think – and I know – that China at the NPT Review Conference will criticize the partnership, although I also think that what China fails to do is to recognize that it's China's own actions in the region that have led the partners to close gaps in our security," Scheinman said.

On Thursday, French Military Chief, vice-admiral Nicolas Vaujour, warned Canberra of difficulties it could face in handling nuclear submarines.

"There are a lot of advantages to [having] a nuclear submarine, you can stay at sea for a long time. But it also means your country has to have a big industry, supply chains etc, to be able to operate that," he said.

Ahead of the NPT review conference, some American experts have written to President Joe Biden, urging him to abandon the plan to share nuclear submarine technologies with Australia.

NPT is 50 years old and is an international treaty aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and promote cooperation for the peaceful use of nuclear energy by furthering the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament.