welcome to john and censored i'm chris chappell this episode is sponsored by surf shark you should be using a vpn like surf shark to protect yourself whenever you go online so president biden has just announced a new defense deal with australia and the uk the goal counter china and part of the deal includes nuclear-powered submarines now this radically changes things for one this is not a deal australia would have made even three years ago that's when australia prime minister scott morrison took office back then he insisted australia wouldn't pick sides in the u.s china spat according to him australia doesn't have to choose and we won't choose but things have changed australia eventually realized there's a difference between dealing with a fellow western democracy and an authoritarian regime that uses gang rape as a form of torture australia and new zealand are ground zero for chinese influence operations the chinese communist party has been actively infiltrating and undermining the australian government and society for example this NUMBER_TOKEN report says NUMBER_TOKEN percent of foreign political donations came from china yes back then australia allowed foreigners to donate to political campaigns china was literally buying off australian politicians that changed when australia passed new foreign interference laws because china was buying off australian politicians this was just the beginning australia also became one of the first countries to follow us advice and ban huawei the chinese telecommunications giant over national security concerns and if prime minister morrison thought he could still not choose sides between the u.s and china the coronavirus forced a decision australia called for an investigation into the origin of the coronavirus and australia-china relations spiraled down the tubes counterclockwise of course china imposed a series of import restrictions and tariffs on australian products including beef wine coal barley and the list goes on last year chinese foreign ministry spokesman jolie jin shared a photo illustration on twitter depicting an australian soldier holding a knife to the neck of an afghan child this infuriated australians they demand that china apologize for posting the repugnant fake image china of course refused it also refuses to let go of australian citizens from its detention centers this prompted the australian government to warn its citizens about the risk of arbitrary detention if they travel to china now australia is second guessing its whole relationship status with china and the u.s and guess who australia decided to stick with more after the break welcome back pressure from china is bringing many countries together japan says it will defend taiwan against china's aggression there's the quad a revived alliance between the u.s japan india and australia aimed at countering china and now there's a new alliance one that can potentially provide more flexibility for the us and australia last week u.s president joe biden uk prime minister boris johnson and australian prime minister scott morrison jointly announced the establishment of a new partnership called auckus this is about investing in our greatest source of strength our alliances and updating them to better meet the threats of today and tomorrow aucus will bring together our sailors our scientists and our industries to maintain and expand our edge and military capabilities and critical technologies such as cyber artificial intelligence quantum technologies and undersea domains now they say that the partnership is not aimed at
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