AUKUS: Defence Minster Peter Dutton wants to welcome more US troops
Peter Dutton and Marise Payne meet their US counterparts in Washington with Antony Blinken promising the US would ‘not leave Australia alone on the pitch’.
Defence Minster Peter Dutton wants more US troops to rotate through Australia, following the signing of a historic security arrangement between the US, the UK and Australia that will see Australia acquire a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.
Mr Dutton and Foreign Minister Marise Payne, standing side by side with the US Secretaries of Defence, Lloyd Austin, and State, Antony Blinken, at the State Department, spoke publicly for the first time about the new agreement on Thursday afternoon.
“I do have an aspiration that we can increase the numbers of troops through the rotations, the air capability will be enhanced, our maritime capability [too],” he said, speaking to the media after the 31st annual Australian-US ministerial discussions.
“If that includes basing and includes storage of different ordinances I think that’s in Australia’s best interest at this point in time,” he added, following speculation Australia would ultimately operate the new submarines out of HMAS Stirling a naval base in Perth.
The US currently has a few thousand troops in Australia, primarily based in the Northern Territory.
“There wasn’t a quid pro quo mindset,” said Secretary Austin, asked if the agreement would require Australia to reverse previously rejected overtures to facilitate an increased US military presence
Secretary Blinken said there were “no follow-on reciprocal requirements” arising from the new agreement”.
“It’s a partnership and co-operative agreement … any future decisions are sovereign decisions for Australia” he added.
The Secretary of State, in his strongest language yet, also said the US would “not leave Australia alone on the field, or better yet on the pitch” in its dealings with China, which has black-listed Australian exports, including barley and beef.
“Beijing has seen over past months that Australia will not back down … threats and economic pressure will not work,” the secretary said.
“We have raised publicly and privately our serious concerns with Beijing about economic coercion, making clear actions like these will hinder our own relationship [with China],” he added.
The Prime Minister Scott Morrison is scheduled to arrive in Washington next week for a series of meetings with the US President, the UK and Indian prime ministers, as part of the first-ever meeting of Quad nation leaders, an informal grouping of nations that is increasingly seen as a means to contain Chinese expansion.
“This agreement is not aimed at anything or anyone, the intent is to help improve our trilateral co-operation and capabilities across the board,” Mr Austin said, asked if the agreement as directed at China, which officially and via state owned media slammed the pact on Wednesday.
Mr Dutton said the basis for the new agreement was “incredible uncertainty” in the Asia-Pacific region, … very significant uncertainty, more than any time since WWII”.
The Secretary of State took pains to praise France, America’s oldest ally going back to the War of Independence, after the European naval power blasted the US and Australia on Wednesday for excluding it from the new pact and torpedoing a 2016 contract to provide French-designed diesel submarines to Australia.
Mr Dutton said the French nuclear-powered version “was not superior” to American and British offerings, adding that Australia maintained “regional superiority with our Collins class submarines” for now.
Marise Payne said Australia regretted China had not responded to repeated attempts to reopen communication
Mr Blinken said the four ministers had also discussed the “urgent need to respond to the climate crisis by cutting emissions by the end of this decade”, which is likely to prove a sticking point in discussions between Australia and the US when the prime minister meets the US president next week.
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