Joe Biden’s senior advisers have acknowledged countries in the Indo-Pacific don’t want to be “trampled by a headlong clash” between the US and China. In a webinar with an Australian audience on Friday, senior White House national security council (NSC) officials said the US president wanted to give allies and other close partners “breathing space” to engage with China constructively. Edgard Kagan, the NSC’s senior director for east Asia and Oceania, said Biden had been listening to the region’s concerns. “I think the president is very focused on the fact…
Tag: Anthony Albanese
Australia, India, Japan and US take thinly veiled swipe at China
The leaders of the Quad group – Australia, India, Japan and the United States – delivered a thinly veiled swipe at Beijing’s behaviour on Saturday at a summit in Hiroshima. The US president, Joe Biden, and his three partners in the group did not mention China by name but the communist superpower was clearly the target of language in a joint statement calling for “peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific maritime domain”. “We strongly oppose destabilising or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion,”…
The cancelled Quad summit is a win for China and a self-inflicted blow to the US’s Pacific standing
The Chinese government is probably the biggest winner from Joe Biden’s decision to pull out of his trip to Australia and Papua New Guinea, forcing the cancellation of the Quad summit in Sydney. Chinese state media outlets won’t need to muster much creative energy to weave together some of Beijing’s preferred narratives: that the US is racked by increasingly severe domestic upheaval and is an unreliable partner, quick to leave allies high and dry. To make matters worse for the US’s standing in the region, Biden’s planned visit to PNG…
Australia’s defence force is expected to get its biggest overhaul in decades. Here’s what we know so far
Australia’s national security environment is about to get a major shake-up. The defence strategic review ordered by the Albanese government – and what the government plans to do about it – will be publicly released on Monday in what is being touted as the biggest defence overhaul in nearly four decades. Ordered just 73 days into the Albanese government, the review was conducted by the former chief of defence Air Chief Marshal Sir Angus Houston AK AFC and former Labor defence minister Prof Stephen Smith. They handed their completed review…
‘Only one is paying. Our bloke’: Paul Keating attacks Labor leadership over Aukus deal – video
Former Labor prime minister Paul Keating savages his own party for signing up to the Aukus submarine deal. Keating calls the Aukus press event held in the US with Anthony Albanese, Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak ‘kabuki theatre’. The former PM says one of the ‘principle problems’ of the deal is that ‘defence has overtaken foreign policy’. He goes on to attack the foreign minister, Penny Wong, saying, ‘running around the Pacific Islands with a lei around your neck handing out money, which is what Penny does, is not foreign policy’…
Australia news live: Victorian energy prices to jump almost a third as Bowen calls on Coalition to ‘look in the mirror’
From 1h ago Chris Bowen throws back to Coalition on energy price rises The energy minister is borrowing a turn of phrase out of Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech when asked about the Coalition’s suggestion that capping coal and gas prices will, in the longer run, increase prices. Chris Bowen: I invite the Coalition to have a look in the mirror. I mean, he had the independent energy regulator this morning pointing out that without the intervention, the price rises would have been closer to 50%. An intervention that Mr Dutton…
US, UK and Australia embarking on a ‘path of error and danger’, says China – video
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters that the US, UK and Australia ‘are walking further down the path of error and danger’. The comments were made in a press conference in response to the Aukus partners’ announcement of a multibillion-dollar deal on nuclear-powered submarines. The deal, made by leaders during a meeting in San Diego, will provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines in an effort to counter the rise of China in the Indo-Pacific. The Chinese government accuse the three countries of pursuing a deal ‘for the sake of…
What is the Aukus submarine deal and what does it mean? – the key facts
In a tripartite deal with the US and the UK, Australia has unveiled a plan to acquire a fleet of up to eight nuclear-powered submarines, forecast to cost up to $368bn between now and the mid-2050s. Australia will spend $9bn over the next four years. From this year Australian military and civilian personnel will embed with US and UK navies, including within both countries’ submarine industrial bases. From 2027 the UK and the US plan to rotate their nuclear-powered submarines through HMAS Stirling near Perth as part of a push…
Australia news live: Aukus nuclear powered subs deal revealed with $368bn price tag over next three decades
From 26m ago Key points of Aukus submarine deal Daniel Hurst has also broken the announcement down into key points for you: Australia’s entire nuclear-powered submarine program – including acquisition, construction and sustainment – is forecast to cost $268bn to $368bn between now and the mid 2050s, most of it beyond the first four-year budget period. This includes $9bn over the initial four-year budget period. The $9bn over the forward estimates is an increase of $3bn compared with the $6bn earmarked for the abandoned French project – and Defence is…
Rishi Sunak unveils £5bn extra defence spending ahead of US Aukus summit – UK politics live
From 3h ago Rishi Sunak unveils £5bn extra defence spending ahead of Aukus summit in US Good morning. Rishi Sunak is in San Diego, California, where today he will meet Joe Biden, the US president, and Anthony Albanese, the Australian prime minister, for an Aukus meeting. Aukus is the Australia/US/UK security pact, primarily focused on providing Australia with nuclear-powered submarine capacity. It was set up when Boris Johnson was prime minister, and now provides him with the material for one of his most over-used jokes. The meeting will coincide with…