- The talks will also discuss the expanding role of a US Marine rotational force in northern Australia and defense industry cooperation.
- The AUKUS program will sell three nuclear-powered submarines to Australia next decade, with bipartisan support from the US.
- The US and Australia are competing with China for security ties in the Pacific Islands.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defense Minister Richard Marles met in Washington on Monday, a day before the annual AUSMIN talks in Annapolis, Maryland. Marles highlighted the expanding role of a US Marine rotational force in northern Australia and emphasized defense industry cooperation.
“We’re seeing America’s force posture in Australia grow significantly, AUKUS is part of that, but it’s not the only part of that,” Marles said in talks with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, according to a statement.
Under the AUKUS program, Washington will sell three nuclear-powered submarines to Australia next decade. With a US election approaching, Wong stated in Washington that there is bipartisan support in the US for the program.
US Ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, told ABC Television that the talks would cover China and climate change—key priorities for the Pacific Islands, where the US and Australia are competing with China for security ties.
“Obviously with China being such an important both trading partner and competitor for both of us, that is one of the main topics,” she said.
“We are also talking about what we can do together to fight climate change, (and) to help the Pacific Islands to build critical infrastructure to connect them,” she added.
As part of its cooperation on environmental and resource issues, Australia will spend A$200 million ($130.02 million) to upgrade ground station facilities in its remote central desert for processing data from NASA’s Landsat Next satellite.
NASA’s Landsat Next is an Earth observation program that the US space agency says will provide early warnings about fires and ice melting. The program is set to begin in 2030. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that the satellite data would also help target resource exploration in Australia as the two nations develop a supply chain for critical minerals.
The US and its allies aim to reduce China’s market dominance of rare earths and critical minerals used in electric vehicles and defense technology.
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