TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Australia has not made a pledge to support the U.S. in case of a Taiwan Strait conflict in return for American-made nuclear attack submarines, Australia's Defense Minister Richard Marles said on Sunday (March 19).

The Australian government has called the AUS$368 billion (NT$7.61 trillion) deal necessary given China's increased military buildup in the region, Reuters reported. Asked if Australia had agreed to help the U.S. during a conflict in the Taiwan Strait in return for submarines, Marles told ABC television: "Of course not, and nor was one sought."

Marles said there was "absolutely not" any such obligation in the deal, per Reuters.

On March 13, the U.S., Australia, and the U.K. revealed a plan in which the U.S. would sell three Virginia-class submarines to Australia beginning in the early 2030s. In the deal, the U.K. and Australia would also collaborate on designing and building a new submarine class, dubbed the SSN-AUKUS, before the decade's end.

Australia expects to deliver the first Australian-built SSN-AUKUS to the Royal Australian Navy in the early 2040s.