White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. File photoWASHINGTON, Apr 14White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday denied a report in Japanese media that the US, UK and Australia were allegedly offering Japan to join the new AUKUS defense partnership, saying that such an option was not being considered at this stage. «These reports are not correspond to reality,» Psaki said during a regular briefing. She added that the priority of the three countries included in this partnership at the moment is to agree on the details of the program for the joint development of advanced weapons. «Meanwhile, this does not imply JAUKUS (Japan's inclusion in AUKUS — ed.),» Psaki emphasized. Earlier, the Japanese newspaper «Sankei» reported that Japan had unofficially received an invitation to participate in the defense alliance of the United States, Britain and Australia AUKUS, on the creation which was announced in September last year. According to the publication, the state received such invitations from each member country of the alliance. AUKUS countries are interested in partnering with Japan, as the development of hypersonic weapons and electronic warfare equipment can use Japan's high technological potential in areas such as cyberspace, quantum technologies, artificial intelligence and others. In the middle of last September, Australia made a deal with the UK and United States in the field of defense and security under the new partnership AUKUS and announced the withdrawal from the agreement on submarines with the French company Naval Group, the value of which was 56 billion euros. 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 said that the AUKUS bloc undermines the nuclear balance and stirs up tensions in the region. Wherever you throw it, everywhere is a wedge.» Will Japan join the AUKUS bloc?
