By Idrees Ali, Phil Stewart and Kirsty Needham
WASHINGTON/SYDNEY (Reuters) -The United States and Australia kicked off high-level talks on Tuesday that will focus on China’s “coercive behaviour”, as well as the AUKUS nuclear submarine project and mounting tensions in the Middle East, officials said.
The annual Australia-U.S. AUSMIN talks, taking place in Annapolis, Maryland, include the top defense and diplomatic officials from both nations.
“We’re working together today to tackle shared security challenges, from coercive behaviour by the PRC (People’s Republic of China), to Russia’s war of choice against Ukraine, to the turmoil in the Middle East,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
“And I know that (this) year’s AUSMIN will deliver results for both of our peoples.”
The U.S. and China are at odds on a range of issues including U.S. support for Taiwan, as well as Chinese military activity in the South China Sea, over most of which China claims control including the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, where U.S. ally the Philippines has maritime claims.
Austin spoke in the wake of a rocket strike on Monday in Iraq that wounded seven U.S. personnel, as the Middle East braced for a possible new wave of attacks by Iran and its allies following last week’s killing of senior members of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles held meetings in Washington on Monday, a day before the AUSMIN talks.
Marles highlighted the expanding role of a U.S. Marine rotational force in northern Australia and defence industry cooperation.
“We’re seeing America’s force posture in Australia grow really significantly, AUKUS is part of that, but it’s not the only part of that,” Marles said in talks with Austin, according to a statement.
BIPARTISAN SUPPORT
Under the AUKUS programme, Washington will sell three nuclear-powered submarines to Australia in the next decade, and with a U.S. election looming, Australia’s Wong said in Washington there was bipartisan U.S. political support for the programme.
U.S. Ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, told ABC Television that China and climate change – priorities for the Pacific Islands, where the U.S. and Australia are competing with China for security ties – would be discussed.
“Obviously with China being such an important … trading partner and competitor for both of us, that is obviously 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 co-operating on environmental and resource issues, Australia will spend A$200 million ($130 million) to upgrade ground station facilities in its remote central desert to process data from NASA’s Landsat Next satellite.
Landsat Next is an earth observation programme the U.S. space agency says will provide early warnings on the onset of fires or ice melting. The programme is scheduled to be launched in 2030.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the satellite data would also be used to target resource exploration in Australia, as the two nations develop a supply chain for critical minerals.
The U.S. and its allies are seeking to reduce China’s market dominance in rare earths and critical minerals used in electric vehicles and defence technology.
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Editing by Michael Perry and David Holmes)
