Donald Trump switches Australia envoy pick to South Korea

The PM says the US decision to reassign Admiral Harry Harris to South Korea does not hurt relations between the two.

Admiral Harry Harris at the Australian War Memorial last month. Picture Gary Ramage.

Malcolm Turnbull has declared the “very strong relationship” between the US and Australia would not be troubled by Donald Trump’s decision to send Admiral Harry Harris to Korea instead of taking up the US Ambassador’s job in Canberra.

Speaking in France, the Prime Minister said he was alerted about Mr Trump’s decision earlier this week.

“I’m disappointed that Harry’s not coming because he’s a really good friend and I think Harry will be disappointed that he’s not coming to Canberra because he loves Australia,” Mr Turnbull said.

“He is a guy of enormous experience and ability, and given the situation on the Korean Peninsula, given the tensions there I can well understand why the President has decided that the Admiral’s expertise and experience is going to be able to be put to better use in Korea than in Australia.”

Mr Turnbull said he hadn’t spoken with Mr Trump since Admiral Harris was appointed as the new US Ambassador in South Korea.

He said he wasn’t worried about the need to fast-track a new US Ambassador in Australia, saying US Charge d’Affaires Jim Carouso was doing a “fantastic job”.

“No, I haven’t spoken to the President since the announcement was made. I’m sure they will move on to another announcement,” he said.

“The relationship between Australia and the United States is so deep, it’s so intense, it operates at so many levels. The absence of an Ambassador as opposed to a Charge de affairs is not really troubling the very strong relationship we have.”

While Turnbull says he was not bothered one former PM thought it was a bad sign and one of a potentially deteriorating relationship between the two allies.

Speaking to ABC’s 730, Kevin Rudd warned the US administration was facing problems with how it was perceived by the wider Australian public.

“President Trump is not a popular figure within Australia for a range of reasons on the right and left of politics,” Mr Rudd said.

“The bottom line is all Australians expect any administration in the United States to take our alliance seriously”

He criticised the decision to “chop and change at the last minute” by sending Admiral Harris to Seoul.

“To take a good candidate, Admiral Harry Harris and take him from our grasp and send him to Seoul is, I think, a bad signal to the wider public community in Australia about the importance which this Trump Administration attaches to Australia,” he said.

“There is a danger that the Trump Administration begins to take Australia for granted”.

Earlier in the day it was revealed the Trump administration made the decision to pull Harris from Australia and sent him to South Korea.

The move is said to have been orchestrated by the incoming Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to fill the vacancy in South Korea at time of historic negotiations with North Korea.

The White House asked the Senator Foreign Relations Committee to postpone Admiral Harris’s confirmation hearing which had been scheduled for today.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Australia ‘understood’ the decision by the White House to reassign Admiral Harris.

Ms Bishop said she was contacted about the move after 6am on Tuesday morning by US Acting Secretary of State John Sullivan who informed her of the Trump administration’s decision.

“I was contacted by the Acting Secretary of State John Sullivan yesterday morning and he informed me Ambassador Harris was to be reassigned to another diplomatic post so his nomination process will not be going ahead this week,” she said.

“While we would have welcomed Harry Harris here to Australia we understand there are challenges for the United States on the Korean Peninsula and my understanding is he will be reassigned to other duties.”

Ms Bishop attempted to play down the significance of the move, which others have characterised as a snub, and said she assumes the nomination of an alternate candidate will be a priority.

“This is not unusual, it has happened before, but we look forward to a new ambassador being nominated as soon as possible,” she said.

“I understand when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is confirmed as we assume he will be over the next few days then the appointment of an ambassador to Australia will be a priority.”

.@JulieBishopMP: 'Acting Secretary of State John Sullivan contacted me and confirmed that the @WhiteHouse had decided to reassign Admiral Harris to another post. I'm sure the US will choose an appropriate ambassador to take his place.'

MORE: https://t.co/qPk13A5f0Z #amagenda pic.twitter.com/CS7yNxDRIQ

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) April 24, 2018

According to a report in the Washington Post, Harris — the Commander, United States Pacific Command — has already been asked to switch roles and has told the administration he is willing to do so. The President Donald Trump is expected to approve the move.

Pompeo’s decision is intended to avoid the embarrassment of having no US ambassador in Seoul at such a vital time in negotiations with Pyongyang and with a possible summit coming up between Mr Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

There has been no US Ambassador in Seoul for the past 16 months after the Trump administration pulled its previous nominee for the role, former George W. Bush National Security Council official Victor Cha.

When the Trump administration nominated Admiral Harris as Australian ambassador in February it was warmly welcomed by the Turnbull Government.

Mr Turnbull called it a “great’’ nomination, and tweeted a photo of the two men together saying “look forward to seeing you in Canberra, Harry’’.

Admiral Harris, a well known hawk on China throughout his decorated naval career was seen to be the perfect appointment as ambassador to Australia at a time of rising strategic tensions with Beijing.

Labor foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong said it was “disappointing” that the position of US Ambassador to Australia has been left vacant for so long.

“Admiral Harris is a distinguished and highly decorated naval officer with extensive knowledge and experience of our region and Labor warmly welcomed his nomination,” Senator Wong said. “It is disappointing that despite the close ties between our two countries, the post of US ambassador to Australia has now been left vacant for 19 months.”

Senator Wong said the Coalition should press the US to speed up the appointment.

“Labor recognises how important the South Korea post is to regional security given the risk presented by North Korea. We hope the Government expresses to the United States the importance of this appointment being resolved soon.”

Former National Security adviser to Tony Abbott, Andrew Shearer said in Washington today that the Trump administration has treated Australia shabbily.

“This is a disappointing development. No-one doubts the urgency of the North Korea situation, and the alliance between Australia and the United States is strong enough to withstand temporary setbacks. The Government has no choice but to take it on the chin,” he said.

“But Australia has been shabbily treated and is paying the price for the Trump administration’s shambolic personnel management.”

Mr Shearer, currently senior adviser on Asia-Pacific Security with Washington’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said Admiral Harris was very familiar to Australians and his nomination enjoyed strong bipartisan support.

“There’s no doubt he would have made a valuable contribution to taking the alliance forward at an important time, and there will be a lot of disappointment,” he said.

“It’s ironic — now that President Trump intends to meet Kim Jong-un — that the administration already had an ideal candidate to go to Seoul: my CSIS colleague Dr Victor Cha, a world-renowned Korea expert who favoured a diplomatic solution but was apparently rejected by the White House because he wouldn’t support a risky and counter-productive military strike.”

The Post quoted a Congressional aide as saying the move to switch roles for Harris would risk damaging the US-Australia relationship.

“Both Canberra and Seoul are critical posts,” the congressional aide said. “And while Admiral Harris would be a capable, talented and effective nominee for either post, the process by which the administration has handled the nominations for our ambassadors to Korea and now Australia, as well as countless other empty and important positions at State, risks doing grave damage to vital alliance relationships and U.S. posture and standing throughout the region.”

Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia