The south-east Asian nation has joined Indonesia in expressing anxiety about Australia’s nuclear submarine ambitions. auspol
Malaysia has reinforced its concerns about Australia’s plans for a nuclear-powered submarine fleet after a “very candid” discussion between Foreign Minister Penny Wong and her Malaysian counterpart on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, as Wong made her first visit to the country of her birth as Australia’s top diplomat, the issue was back on the agenda. Australia is yet to decide how its nuclear-powered submarine program will be rolled out in practice and how it will fill a looming capability gap caused by its ageing Collins-class fleet.There has been a level of acceptance in some corners of south-east Asia about Australia acquiring nuclear technology from either the United States or Britain.
Wong and her counterpart also discussed the human rights crisis in Myanmar, on which Malaysia has taken a lead role on in urging regional action.Wong is on her second visit to south-east Asia in the less than six weeks since Labor returned to government, having accompanied Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to Indonesia. She has also made three trips to the Pacific in that time.