Joe Biden cancels Australia trip, Quad meeting in doubt

US President Joe Biden has cancelled his upcoming Australia visit amid intractable negotiations over a looming US debt ceiling deadline.

Marine One, the US presidential helicopter, arrives in Sydney ahead of next week’s visit by Joe Biden.

US President Joe Biden has cancelled his upcoming visits to Australia and Papua New Guinea in a blow to Anthony Albanese and to America’s standing in PNG as China looks to expand its influence in the country.

Mr Biden was due to arrive in Sydney next week for the Quad leaders summit, which is now in doubt with the offices of both Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida confirming they were reconsidering their own travel plans.

The cancellation comes amid intractable negotiations between Democrats and congressional Republicans over a looming US debt ceiling deadline.

“The President spoke to Prime Minister Albanese earlier today to inform him that he will be postponing his trip to Australia,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. “He also invited the Prime Minister for an official state visit at a time to be agreed by the teams.

“The President’s team engaged with the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea’s team to inform them as well.”

Mr Biden will attend the G7 meeting in Japan from Friday to Sunday as planned, but will skip the PNG and Australian legs of his trip.

The developments came as Mr Biden and top Republican Kevin McCarthy were locked in talks on raising the ceiling for federal borrowing to avoid a market-shaking default.

Mr Albanese said he and Mr Biden would work to reschedule his visit to Australia at the earliest opportunity.

“President Biden called me this morning to discuss his upcoming visit to Australia. The President apologised that he would now have to postpone this visit because of the unfolding difficulties he is facing in his negotiations with the US Congress over the US Government debt ceiling,’’ Mr Albanese said.

“These negotiations are scheduled to enter their critical and concluding phase during the last week of May. Regrettably, this conflicts with the President’s visits to Sydney and Canberra – including the Quad Summit scheduled for 24 May.

“The President and I agreed that we would work to reschedule his visit to Australia at the earliest opportunity.

“I also look forward to visiting Washington later this year for a state visit to the United States.

“The Government is now in discussion with our friends in both Tokyo and Delhi on Prime Minister Kishida’s and Prime Minister Modi’s travel. Once those discussions are concluded, we will make a further announcement on their travel.

“In the meantime, I look forward to meeting with both Prime Ministers and the President at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima on 20-21 May.”

Mr Biden’s cancellation is being felt heavily in PNG, where the impoverished Marape government had spent millions preparing for the presidential visit, and was preparing to sign a wide-ranging security agreement with the US President.

The planned defence co-operation pact would give US warships and aircraft unimpeded access to PNG waters and airspace. Leaked draft text of the agreement will infuriate China in its scope, and feed Beijing’s arguments of growing US militarisation of the region.

Prominent PNG blogger Martyn Namorong tweeted: “We even declared a National Public Holiday for Biden‘s historic visit only to be thrown under the bus by the US.”

The cancelled presidential trip will also force Pacific Island Forum leaders, who were due to converge on PNG for a meeting with Mr Biden, to change their travel plans.

It was only on Tuesday night that Mr Biden has accepted an invitation to address the Australian parliament next week.

Preparations for Mr Biden’s visit had been in full swing, with a US C-17 Globemaster arriving at Sydney Airport to deliver the President’s helicopter, Marine One.

The President was due to use the helicopter to travel between Sydney, where the President and his 1000-plus entourage were to stay, and Canberra, where he was due to address both houses of parliament.

The now-cancelled parliamentary address would have been the fifth by a US president.

The Quad leaders were due to discuss regional security, critical and emerging technologies, cybersecurity, climate change mitigation and resilience, health safeguards, and co-operation to build regional infrastructure.

Mr Biden’s visit to Australia was to be the first US presidential trip to the country since 2014, when Barack Obama addressed parliament.

He and Mr Albanese were set to discuss progress on the AUKUS pact and the need for legal and regulatory changes to enable the sharing of advanced US technology.

Mr Modi is scheduled to speak at an Indian diaspora community event on Tuesday night at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena. He hosted a similar gathering during his last visit, in 2014, which was attended by about 20,000 people.

Mr Albanese is slated to join Mr Modi at the event, where he is expected to talk up Australia’s close ties to India, encompassing trade, investment and security.

“Our strong partnership with India will deliver economic benefits for Australia in trade, investment and business,” Mr Albanese said on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Kishida last visited Australia in October last year. His scheduled visit will follow the G7-Plus meeting in Hiroshima starting on Friday, which Mr Albanese is attending.

“No partner in the Indo-Pacific is closer than Japan,” Mr Albanese said.

“Our partnership is underpinned by our shared values, including a commitment to democracy, human rights, free trade and a rules-based order.”

The US-PNG defence co-operation agreement is aimed at lifting the presence of US armed forces in the South Pacific amid fears its bases in Guam, Japan and The Philippines are well within range of Chinese missiles.

Joe Biden and Jill Biden at the White House on Monday. Picture: AFP

Under the draft text of the agreement, which some suspected the Chinese of leaking to stoke opposition to the deal, US aircraft and ships could “enter, exit, and move freely within the territory and territorial waters of Papua New Guinea”.

It would give the US “the exclusive right” to oversee disciplinary or criminal proceedings in relation to US personnel.

The agreement would grant the US access to key facilities including Jackson International Airport and the Port Moresby Seaport, Lombrum Naval Base on Manus Island and Lae’s airport and sea port. It says US forces would be authorised to control entry to agreed facilities and areas, or portions thereof, which have been provided for exclusive use by US forces, and to co-ordinate entry with the appropriate authorities of Papua New Guinea”.

PNG “shall not require passports or visas” for US personnel, and will allow the US to establish satellite receiving stations in PNG, and use the country’s territorial radio spectrum, the draft agreement states.

The draft text of the agreement was already being compared by some to China’s security agreement with Solomon Islands, which set off a frenzy of speculation Beijing was set to establish a military base in the China-friendly Pacific nation.

Anthony Albanese, Mr Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Quad summit in Tokyo in 2022. Picture: AFP

Australia is negotiating its own defence treaty with PNG, expected to be finalised next month.