Pentagon nominee hints at Aukus changes, says Taiwan should ‘pay its way’

The Aukus defence technology-sharing pact between the US, Britain and Australia could be made more “sustainable”, according to the Donald Trump administration’s pick as its next assistant defence secretary for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs.

At his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, John Noh, currently deputy assistant defence secretary for East Asia, also said he “strongly” believed that Taiwan needed to “do its part and pay” by increasing its spending on defence against possible attack from Beijing.

Noh told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that there could be opportunities for Washington, London and Canberra to modify Pillar I of the Aukus arrangement before the current review’s completion, expected this autumn.

“The department is conducting a review of Aukus to make sure it is fully aligned with President Trump’s ‘America first’ foreign policy … It is a brass-tack, common sense look at the realities facing Aukus, including the state of our submarine industrial base,” he said.

“There are things that I believe are common sense things that we can do to strengthen Aukus, to strengthen Pillar I to ensure that it is more sustainable.”

The minilateral pact is widely perceived as intended to increase the US and its allies’ capabilities in containing China’s increasing naval power. Beijing describes Aukus as a threat to regional stability.

South China Morning Post