U.S. Rep. Neal Dunn, released a statement regarding President Joe Biden’s meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to discuss the AUKUS security pact.
Austal Limited is an Australian corporation headquartered in Henderson, Western Australia. In 2016, Austal established Aulong Shipbuilding, a joint venture with Jianglong Shipbuilding, to build commercial passenger and non-military vessels for the Chinese market. Austal provided the designs for the ships. In 2021, Austal confirmed the beginning of negotiations with Guangdong Jianglong Shipbuilding Company to sell its 40 percent stake in Aulong Shipbuilding.
Additionally, the U.S. Navy awarded Austal USA a contract to build Littoral Combat Ships. The Littoral Combat Ships delivered to the Navy are plagued by cracked hulls, broken equipment, and technologies that do not work, a press release from Dunn’s office states.
“Foreign-owned company Austal USA won the contract to build the command and control modules of the Virginia and Columbia nuclear class submarines, which are central to the AUKUS pact”, Congressman Dunn said. “How in the world can Biden talk about the importance of this security pact while at the same time, his own US Navy and U.S. Coast Guard are letting a foreign company with close Chinese ties to build components of the nuclear submarines?”
The congressmen called on the White House to investigate what he called “highly questionable Navy and Coast Guard procurement activities.”
“Something is just not right here,” Neal said.
Congressman Dunn recently highlighted his national security concerns during the first Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party hearing by highlighting the similarities between the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships and the Chinese equivalent. The congressman also sent multiple letters to the Biden Administration urging an investigation into Austal USA’s relationship with China.
Erin Hill
