On Thursday, United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin hosted Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Women Marise Payne and Minister for Defence Peter Dutton in Washington, DC, for the 31st Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations.
Earlier on the same day, Australia, the US, and the United Kingdom entered into a new trilateral security partnership, AUKUS, to counter China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific.
A joint statement released by the two sides following the ministerial consultations focused on their bilateral ties as Australia and the US marked the 70th anniversary of a stable, peaceful, and prosperous relationship. It noted that the ministers discussed COVID-19, Indo-Pacific cooperation, climate change, and growing security threats.
“Our shared values and experiences pave a path forward to meet these challenges, delivering solutions that are grounded in democratic values, promote respect for human rights, and strengthen the rules-based international order,” the statement read.
Indo-Pacific Cooperation
Australia and the US pledged to advance peace, security, and stability to ensure an open, accessible, and inclusive Indo-Pacific. The countries committed to pursuing closer ties in preferred areas such as regional security, economic growth technology, infrastructure, democratic resilience, human rights, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ministers reaffirmed support to their Indo-Pacific partners through the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (or the Quad), which is comprised of the US, Australia, India, and Japan. They noted the positive impact the Quad partnership has had on COVID-19 vaccine production and its delivery through the Quad Vaccine Partnership announced in March 2021. Additionally, the officials discussed measures to deepen cooperation in climate change, maritime security, emerging technology, infrastructure, cyber security, and disinformation.
Moreover, the ministers reasserted their commitment to Southeast Asia, ASEAN centrality, and ASEAN led architecture, and highlighted the role of the East Asia Summit to address strategic challenges.
Both sides talked about the importance of the Mekong sub-region and exchanged views on strengthening its resilience, economic prosperity, clean energy systems, and health security. The deteriorating situation in Myanmar and the need to uphold international law in the South China Sea were also discussed. Furthermore, the ministers highlighted Taiwan’s role in the Indo-Pacific and its meaningful participation in international organisations and partnerships with the Pacific and Timor-Leste. They then reaffirmed their commitment to the Pacific Islands Forum.
COVID-19 Recovery and Public Health
The representatives discussed the catastrophic impact of the ongoing pandemic, especially for the Indo-Pacific, and considered ways to extend support for successful recovery. Both sides also agreed to strengthen the World Health Organization and the global health architecture.
Democratic Values and Multilateralism
According to the joint statement: “The United States and Australia stand committed to democracy and a stable, secure, and inclusive Indo-Pacific, and pledged to strengthen the rules-based international order that has fostered international peace and security, facilitated prosperity and sustainable development, and promoted respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for nearly eight decades.”
Both sides have decided to cooperate in international organisations, multilateral fora, and the multilateral system to uphold international rules and values, promote the universality of human rights, and enhance transparency and accountability.
Coordination on issues related to women, peace and security, arbitrary arrest, and detention were also discussed, along with the erosion of democracy in Hong Kong and state-sanctioned repression against Uyghurs and other religious and ethnic minority groups in China’s Xinjiang province.
Climate, Clean Energy, and Environment
Australia and the US expressed grave concern over the latest report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and promised to make efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They discussed climate action via mitigation, adaptation, and finances and pledged to strengthen global commitment to climate action ahead of the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference in November.
The two countries hailed the Quad Climate Working Group as a productive platform to achieve climate goals and support climate action across Indo-Pacific. Additionally, they acknowledged the global security threat posed by climate change and vowed to support disaster response and resilience measures in defence planning. Apart from this, talks were held on oceans health and marine plastic pollution.
Defence and Security
The two sides acknowledged the challenging nature of the Indo-Pacific security environment and underscored the importance of international law and rules-based international order. The statement mentioned that both sides would promote common defence and security capabilities to establish peace and security. The representatives announced a series of initiatives such as the AUKUS and the Enhanced Force Posture Cooperation and Alliance Integration.
Strategic Capabilities Cooperation
The officials discussed cooperation in science, technology, strategic capabilities, and defence industrial base integration. In this regard, they signed a classified ‘Statement of Intent on Strategic Capabilities Cooperation and Implementation’ to “strengthen capability outcomes, deepen our Alliance, and strengthen our cooperation to meet emerging challenges, and support regional stability.”
Industry, Technology, and Innovation
Both sides expressed willingness to promote regional prosperity by focusing on industrial and technological innovation. They also discussed the importance of resilient, diverse, and secure supply chains for economic prosperity and national security. Moreover, the ministers held discussions on critical minerals and rare earth elements and the potential of data and the digital economy besides stable and secure space domain, space technology, civil research, and critical emerging technologies.
Other Security Issues
The two countries then reaffirmed their commitment to multilateral strategic fora, including the Five Eyes Alliance, Trilateral Strategic Dialogue with Japan, the Security and Defence Cooperation Forum, and the Trilateral Defence Ministerial Meetings with Japan.
Concerning the situation in Afghanistan, the ministers stressed the importance of human rights and fundamental freedoms for the future government in the country. They condemned terror attacks on Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 26 and committed to cooperation on counterterrorism. In addition, both sides acknowledged their achievements under the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS (Da’esh) and in the Indo-Pacific region.
The statement mentioned that both nations are “committed to upholding an open, free, safe, and secure international cyber and technology environment, recognising all countries have affirmed that international law applies in cyberspace.”
Other areas of discussion included: Cooperation in cybersecurity, ways to combat disinformation, intelligence sharing, training and exercises, proliferation security initiative, Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, and nonproliferation and counterproliferation information.
The next Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations are scheduled to be held in 2022.
Australia, US Hold Foreign and Defence Ministerial Consultations Following AUKUS Deal
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin hosted their Australian counterparts for the 31st Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations.
September 17, 2021
SOURCE: ANDREW HARNIK / AFP