AUKUS: The Most Important New Security Alliance (Part I)

Over the course of the past two weeks, there has been a flurry of writing surrounding Japanese Prime Minister Kashida’s visit to Washington DC concerning whether Japan will be the next nation to join one of the newest alliances with a global ambition, AUKUS. While there are no tangible signs that Japan will join the alliance anytime soon (Japan already has a mutual self-defense treaty with the US), what is abundantly clear is that the maritime-oriented capitalist democracies of the Indo-Pacific are increasingly exploring ways to shore up their defenses and increase the deterrence game against an increasingly aggressive China. 

Geopolitical interests are driving new security architectures (like AUKUS) around the world, and these security architectures are ushering in a new era of massive government spending and large defense contracting across numerous sectors. Understanding those architectures is, thus, key to understanding where the security spending might eventually flow.

Let’s dig in.

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