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Australia on Sunday defended its move to cancel the $40 billion deal for French submarines on Sunday, saying the government had raised concerns with Paris for months.</p>
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&quot;I don&#39;t regret the decision to put Australia&#39;s national interest first,&quot; said Prime Minister Scott Morrison.</p>
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Australia dumped the 2016 deal with France&#39;s Naval Group to build a fleet of conventional submarines and has instead opted for building at least eight nuclear-powered submarines with US and British technology as part of the new AUKUS security alliance between the three English speaking countries.</p>
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<strong>Also read:</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.indianarrative.com/opinion-news/france-s-recall-of-ambassadors-amid-aukus-shreds-post-war-alliance-115628.html">France&rsquo;s recall of ambassadors amid AUKUS shreds post-war alliance</a></p>
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An angry France retaliated by withdrawing its ambassadors from Canberra and Washington.&nbsp;</p>
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&quot;This is an issue that had been raised by me directly some months ago and we continued to talk those issues through, including with defence ministers and others,&quot; Morrison said at a press conference.</p>
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Morrison said he had informed France about the new deal at 8.30 p.m on Wednesday, while it had been formally announced at 7 a.m. Canberra time on Thursday. Defence Minister Peter Dutton said Australia was &quot;upfront, open and honest&quot; with France about its concerns.</p>
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&quot;Suggestions that the concerns hadn&#39;t been flagged by the Australian government, just defy, frankly, what&#39;s on the public record and certainly what they&#39;ve said publicly over a long period of time,&quot; Dutton told Sky News.</p>
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Paris has called the cancellation a stab in the back, with Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian saying relations with the United States and Australia were in a crisis.</p>
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