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US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told Congress on Thursday he would involve lawmakers in a 30-day assessment of the Aukus alliance, a day after the future of the three-country security pact was thrown into question by reports that the Pentagon was putting it under review.
“Congress will be involved,” Hegseth said in response to a question from US congressman Joe Courtney, a Connecticut Democrat, who also raised concern about the time frame allocated for analysing the pact between Australia, Britain and the US.
“A 30-day review on a project that really took years to develop?” Courtney asked during a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee, while noting that China’s dislike of Aukus was the alliance’s “ultimate sort of endorsement”.
Asked about Aukus in Beijing on Thursday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said China opposed “manufacturing bloc confrontation and anything that amplifies the risk of nuclear proliferation and exacerbates [an] arms race”.
Aukus was launched in 2021 under then-US president Joe Biden and is widely viewed as an alliance to counter China’s regional influence and ambitions.
