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US president Joe Biden is hosting leaders of the United Kingdom and Australia who are in the US for the AUKUS Summit. The leaders are expected to finalise a pact on the supply of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia to counter what the three nations see as China's threat in the Indo-Pacific region. Charles Edel, Senior adviser and the inaugural Australia Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who previously served on the US Secretary of State鈥檚 policy planning staff, told Newsday that Australia needs a greater deterrent and needs to upgrade from conventional to nuclear-powered submarines that can stay submerged for longer and create more question marks about where they are. Countering disinformation from the Chinese government that Australia will have nuclear weapons, Mr Edel says: "They will not have nuclear weapons on these submarines, they are nuclear-powered." (Photo: A nuclear submarine is seen at the Royal Navy's submarine base at Faslane, Scotland, UK on 31 August, 2015. Credit: Reuters/Russell Cheyne/File Photo)
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