SAN DIEGO — Plans are underway to welcome President Joe Biden back to San Diego for the second time in less than five months. The President will travel here on Monday.
According to the White House, he'll be joined by the prime ministers of both Australia and the United Kingdom to talk about a security partnership the three have known as AUKUS.
"This is a very, very important political and strategic event," said Tai Ming Cheung, a professor at UC-San Diego's School of Global Policy and Strategy.
Cheung says the AUKUS pact includes agreements to buy and sell submarines and work together in the Indo-Pacific region.
Specifically, Australia, which does not have its own industrial submarine base, will purchase nuclear submarines built and designed by the U.S. and UK at an estimated cost of $3 billion each.
The U.S. will also be allowed to deploy their submarines in Australia.
Cheung says it’s a way for the U.S. to continue its military dominance in order to counter China's military growth.
"To compete with China, the U.S. cannot by itself compete against China, so it needs its partners and allies," said Cheung.
As for why San Diego was chosen as the meeting spot, for one, Naval Base Point Loma houses submarines. It's believed the three leaders may tour one during their visit.
"Right here in Point Loma, we have part of the nuclear submarine Navy that is so important to what we do in the future," said Cheung.
Jim Kindrick is a former Navy fighter pilot who runs the Air and Space Museum. Kindrick says nuclear submarines are a critical form of defense due to their ability to be underwater, all while going undetected for great lengths of time.
Regarding the upcoming visit, he says it demonstrates just how critical military alliances are, not just political ones.
"We know who the good ones are. We know who the bad ones are and we wanna make sure that when we buddy up, we're buddying up with forces that are real that will carry their loud and when we go into combat, we're ready to win," said Kindrick.
Following the President’s visit to San Diego, the President will travel to Monterey Park to talk about his efforts to reduce gun violence. He will then go to Las Vegas as part of his West Coast tour.
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