China perceives a 'Cold War mindset' in the US, United Kingdom, and Australia military agreement.

Pic Courtesy AAP

China said on Wednesday that nations should "throw off their Cold War mindset" as it rejected the formation of a trilateral agreement including the US, the UK, and Australia.

The security partnership will involve a range of projects involving cyber warfare, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing, and is expected to help counter China's growing influence in global politics.

According to Liu Pengyu, the Chinese Embassy's spokesman in Washington, DC, nations "should avoid forming exclusionary blocs that target or damage the interests of third parties" and "should shed their Cold War mindset and ideological bias."

On Wednesday, US Vice President Joe Biden launched the AUKUS partnership through a joint virtual event with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. The agreement will be officially inked next week at the White House at the Quad meeting.

China criticised the Quad meeting last week, stating that "exclusive" regional cooperation cliques created to attack a third nation "would not be popular and will have no future." On 24 September, the Quad nations — the United States, Australia, India, and Japan — will convene for the first time in person.

Australia will also be able to obtain nuclear-powered submarines via the AUKUS alliance in order to confront China's increasing aggressiveness in areas ranging from the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean. Australia would become the sixth nation to acquire nuclear submarines, joining the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, China, France, and India.

The Scott Morrison administration renounced a $90 billion submarine contract with France in favour of this new arrangement with the United States and the United Kingdom to bolster Australia's undersea defence capabilities.

Mr Morrison said that although designs for the submarines will be developed over the next 18 months and the boats constructed in Adelaide, Australia would not deploy nuclear weapons. “We will continue to comply with all of our nonproliferation obligations,” he said.

Mr Biden said that this effort is aimed at ensuring that "each of us has the most advanced skills necessary for manoeuvring and defending against constantly changing threats."

“Today, we take another historic step toward deepening and formalising collaboration between our three countries, because we all recognise the critical nature of maintaining long-term peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region,” Mr Biden said.“This alliance will become more critical for safeguarding our interests in the Indo-Pacific region and, by extension, for defending our people at home,” Mr Johnson said.

This alliance comes amid China's retaliation against the Biden administration for attempting to rebuild the Indo-Pacific region's security policy. Mr Biden has sought a more united voice from regional partners against the Asian behemoth since becoming the president. Since early January, Beijing has been flexing its muscles in the Indian Ocean, provoking a reaction from the region's other major powers, including India.

China, according to a Pentagon study, has "the world's biggest navy," with a total fighting force of about 350 ships and submarines, including more than 130 main surface combatants.

Mr Biden allegedly talked on the phone last week with Chinese President Xi Jinping after the failure of high-level interaction between the two presidents' senior advisors. Mr Xi voiced worry during the 90-minute conversation that the US approach toward China has resulted in "severe problems" in relations, according to China's Xinhua news agency.