AUSTRALIA and France sent a message to the world that they are now putting behind their differences concerning the AUKUS trilateral security pact after they promised to grant each other access to each other’s military bases and training facilities.
Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong and her French counterpart Catherine Colonna signed the France-Australia Bilateral Roadmap earlier this week.
Besides granting each other access to their respective military bases, the roadmap will also allow both countries to conduct more joint military exercises, more defense cooperation, as well as increased intelligence sharing.
To recall, both countries had a fallout after Canberra canceled its $90 billion contract with France in exchange for a $368 billion trilateral deal with the United States and the United Kingdom to build nuclear-powered submarines.
The cancellation of the contract also forced France to recall its ambassadors from the United States and Australia.
Meanwhile, the US Congress showed signs it could authorize as early as next week the sale of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia after the Republicans agreed to include the AUKUS legislation in the Biden administration’s annual defense spending bill.
