Australia highlights growing US military presence ahead of AUSMIN talks

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong at the signing of a joint communique on the US-Australia Landsat Next 2030 International Partnership Initiative at the State Department in Washington, DC on Aug. 5, 2024. (AFP)

• Under the AUKUS program, Washington will sell three nuclear-powered submarines to Australia next decade

SYDNEY: China, climate change, strategic competition in the Pacific, and the AUKUS nuclear submarine project, will be the focus of talks between Australia-US defense and foreign ministers this week, the US top diplomat to Australia said on Tuesday.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defense Minister Richard Marles held meetings in Washington on Monday, a day before the annual AUSMIN talks in Annapolis, Marylands, with Marles highlighting the expanding role of a US Marine rotational force in northern Australia and defense industry cooperation.
“We’re seeing America’s force posture in Australia grow really significantly, AUKUS is part of that, but it’s not the only part of that,” Marles said in talks with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, according to a statement.
Under the AUKUS program, Washington will sell three nuclear-powered submarines to Australia next decade, and with a US election looming, Australia’s Wong said in Washington there was bipartisan US political support for the program.
US Ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, told ABC Television that China and climate change — a priority for the Pacific Islands, where the US and Australia are competing with China for security ties — would be discussed.
“Obviously with China being such an important both trading partner and competitor for both of us, that is obviously one of the main topics,” she said.
“We are also talking about what we can do together to fight climate change, (and) to help the Pacific Islands to build critical infrastructure to connect them,” she added.
As part of co-operating on environmental and resource issues, Australia will spend A$200 million ($130.02 million) to upgrade ground station facilities in its remote central desert to process data from NASA’s Landsat Next satellite.
NASA’s Landsat Next is an earth observation program the US space agency says will provide early warnings on the onset of fires or ice melting. The program is scheduled to begin in 2030.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the satellite data would also be used to target resource exploration in Australia, as the two nations develop a supply chain for critical minerals.
The US and its allies are seeking to reduce China’s market dominance of rare earths and critical minerals used in electric vehicles and defense technology.