WASHINGTON — The U.K., U.S. and Australia have announced a security pact aimed at confronting China, whereby Australia will be provided with the technology to build nuclear-powered submarines for the first time, according to the BBC.

Australia says it will abide by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in not pursuing nuclear weapons, but the move could still ‘indirectly spur the proliferation of nuclear weapons’ because of the technology it involves and the precedents it sets, according to The Guardian.

The pact, known as AUKUS, which also covers artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and cyberwarfare, is designed as a response to China's military buildup in the Indo-Pacific, according to the BBC.