Former UK National Security Adviser Compares Ship Crisis During Nuclear War To Iraq War Breakdown

Ilustrasi kapal selam Australia HMAS Rankin (SSG 78). (Wikimedia Commons/U.S. Navy/Seaman Ryan C. McGinley)

JAKARTA - The former British ambassador to France is concerned that the nuclear submarine deal, which has strained relations between the United States, Australia and France, will undermine the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Peter Ricketts, who served as British Ambassador to France from 2012 to 2016, said Canberra's decision to cancel its contract with Paris for diesel-powered submarines in favor of nuclear-powered submarines from Washington was driving divisions among allies and weakening the transatlantic alliance.

"I think this move certainly undermines France's confidence in NATO and its NATO allies, and therefore strengthens their feelings, if they have to push for Europe's strategic autonomy," he told AFP, citing Macau Business September 21.

"I think it will only damage NATO because NATO relies on trust. Repair work must start immediately," he continued.

The European Union foreign ministers will discuss a new defense pact signed between the United States (US), Australia and Britain, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Monday.

The deal, dubbed 'AUKUS', announced last week, was followed by a deal to build eight US-tech nuclear submarines for Australia, prompting the Kangaroo Country to scrap a USD 40 billion deal to build conventional submarines. This prompted France to claim it had been 'stabbed in the back' by Australia and sparked an angry war of words.

Ricketts, Britain's top diplomat in Paris between 2012 and 2015, likened the dispute to France's opposition to US President George W. Bush's attempts to go to war in Iraq.

French president at the time, Jacques Chirac, warned of the conflict to overthrow Saddam Hussein, who was backed by Germany, a stronghold that was reluctant to invade Iraq. Meanwhile, the United States and Britain at that time wanted to invade Iraq, even though there was no UN Security Council support or mandate.

"It (the nuclear submarine deal) will be remembered in France, I believe, like the rift in Iraq in 2003, and things will never be the same again," Ricketts said.

"I think that will tend to reinforce feelings among Europeans, America is now a less reliable ally than it was before," he added.

Ricketts, who was NATO's permanent representative from 2003-2006, said France would view the dispute as a turning point in relations with the United States and Britain.

"This reinforces the feeling that in Paris, I catch, the United States is increasingly turning away from its European security allies and focusing on their confrontation with China. And Britain, in this step, is following the same direction," he said.

Previously, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had sought to play down any effect on his relations with France, insisting Kangaroo Country remained one of his closest military allies.

Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian accused London, which recently renewed its foreign policy in the post-Brexit Indo-Pacific region, of constant opportunism.