Jakarta, July 31 -- Ambassador of the United States to ASEAN Kevin Kim emphasized that the AUKUS partnership between the US, Australia and the UK continues to strengthen stability in the region.

"These are capabilities that are about protecting Australian sovereignty, so that they can protect their waters," said Kim in a closed discussion with the media here on Friday.

Kim said that as someone who helped write the initial legislation that authorized AUKUS, he strongly supports AUKUS which is also strongly supported by the US President.

This partnership, he said, is about deepening defense industrial base cooperation.

The second pillar of the AUKUS partnership is actually to promote the defense industrial base between the United States...