Chinese state-run media said Wednesday that Australia's choice of France to build its next-generation fleet of submarines avoided a "worst-case scenario" by not choosing Japan but issued a warning to U.S. ally Canberra not to upset the shifting security balance in the region.
The editorial, published on the website of the English-language Global Times, slammed the sub deal, which it said would "beef up the U.S. strategic strength in the Western Pacific, negatively affecting China's strategic security."
On Tuesday, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that Japan — the onetime front-runner in the multibillion-dollar tender to build the subs — had lost out to France's state-controlled naval contractor DCNS.