In AUKUS: we have the trilateral partnership and nuclear submarine deal representing a strategic disruption that potentially negates what the QUAD is trying to achieve vis-a-vis China. Functional cooperation in Asia in tandem with omnidirectional economic cooperation has been ditched in favour of triggering a potential arms race redolent of the Cold War.
AUKUS explicitly signalled its intent to deter China militarily, (Mick Armstrong & Danny Haiphong, Monthly Review 2021). Disturbingly, the fine details spelled out through the grouping’s desired submarine capabilities suggested that concepts such as countervailing retaliation and mutual assured destruction are in play, (A Chong, Reconciling the Quad and AUKUS: a bridge too far?, eastasia forum 11/12/2021), while regional states, especially Indonesia and Malaysia had much to say about the potential risks of AUKUS and Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine program.
China and Russia both had warned about the danger of an arms race, (Australia Financial Review). The Editorial Board of East Asia Forum opinated that There’s more to Australian security in Asia than AUKUS and that Middle Power diplomacy is essential to secure Asia against big power rivalry, too.
Now we have a writeup on how Obama's Asia tsar relating not only a pivot to Southeast Asia, but also prompting Australia’s watery acceptance of the AUKUS submarine tale:
