Test launch of a Trident II D5 missile from a Nebraska submarine off the California coast. Archival photo BEIJING, Jan 4 -RIA Novosti. The AUKUS trilateral agreement on defense between the United States, Great Britain and Australia, which drew sharp criticism in the world, could lead to the collapse of the nuclear nonproliferation regime, Director of the Department of Arms Control of the PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs Fu Cong said in a briefing on Tuesday. «AUKUS, and especially the trilateral agreement on the development of nuclear submarines, an extremely serious issue.The essence of the problem is that if this plan is implemented, it will mean that the United States and Great Britain, being two nuclear states, will transfer to Australia, which is not a nuclear country, weapons uranium, «the diplomat said. He stressed that the existing IAEA safeguards system does not provide any opportunity to verify that Australia will not use the appropriate materials to create nuclear weapons.» Therefore, China, along with many other countries, is extremely concerned about this cooperation, «Fu said Tsun, adding that China is insisting on the creation of a special a special committee, on the basis of which the legal, political and technical implications of this cooperation will be discussed. According to him, «this trilateral cooperation on nuclear submarines will set an extremely negative precedent.» 
China urged the United States not to assess its nuclear arsenal using satellite images «We believe that this will be a malicious use of a loophole in the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, and if many countries do this, it will mean the collapse of the nuclear nonproliferation regime,» he stressed. Fu Cong also noted that these countries, which have always declared their leadership in international nonproliferation efforts, showed double standards by entering into a treaty. In mid-September, Australia struck a defense and security deal with the United Kingdom and the United States as part of the new AUKUS partnership. and announced its withdrawal from the € 56 billion submarine agreement with the French company Naval Group. The agreement with France provided for the production of 12 Barracuda-class attack submarines. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian then called Australia's decision to break the agreement «a stab in the back.» In recent contacts between the leaders of Russia and China, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, the parties expressed that the AUKUS bloc (USA-UK-Australia) undermines the nuclear balance and inflames tensions in the region. 
The White House named the creation of AUKUS a success of the year
