Key purpose of defence agreement is signal it gives to Beijing, Australia’s former defence minister tells MPs

A former Australian defence minister has told MPs that a key purpose of the Aukus defence pact was to tie Britain into the Indo-Pacific region at a time when Canberra is “in the midst of a tense relationship with China”.

Christopher Pyne, who held the post until 2019, told the UK’s defence select committee he believed the initial importance of the Australia-UK-US tie-up announced last week was in the messages it sent to Beijing.