China’s sound and fury over Aukus will mean little for ties with Australia

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Tuesday. Despite criticism of Aukus ‘China is unlikely to reverse the bilateral relationship repair of recent months.’ Photograph: Liu Zheng/AP

Leaving aside the former prime minister Paul Keating’s anti-Aukus spray at the National Press Club on Wednesday, perhaps the strongest criticism about this week’s trilateral submarine deal between Australia, the US and the UK has come from Beijing.

Rehearsing now-familiar talking points, the Chinese government on Tuesday decried Aukus as an example of a “typical cold war mentality” and a threat to both “regional peace and stability” and the “international nuclear non-proliferation regime”.