News Mania Desk/ Piyal Chatterjee / 21st September 2024
After discussing bilateral defense cooperation in the Indo-Pacific with President Joe Biden on Saturday, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed confidence that the AUKUS defense deal will be upheld by any future U.S. administration.
After an election on November 5th, which will place Republican Donald Trump, Biden’s running mate, in the White House, he will pass the torch to his vice president, Kamala Harris, who has promised a confrontational approach with China and expressed doubt about long-standing U.S. alliances. Australia’s closest security ally is the United States.
“There is no question in my mind that AUKUS will continue to have the support of any future U.S. administration,” Albanese said in a televised media conference from the U.S. city of Philadelphia.
AUKUS was established in 2021 to allay concerns about China’s increasing influence. Its purpose is to enable Australia to purchase attack submarines with nuclear propulsion as well as other cutting-edge armaments like hypersonic missiles.Albanese is in the United States for the Quad Leaders Summit, where the leaders are anticipated to discuss the ongoing confrontation between Beijing and its South China Sea neighbors, who have been at odds over disputed territory for years, according to U.S. sources who spoke to Reuters.
In a statement released on Saturday, Albanese’s office claimed that he met with Biden before to the summit in Delaware and they talked about bilateral cooperation in defense and security, notably in the Indo-Pacific region.
For the first of several private one-on-one encounters with Albanese, Biden invited him to his house.
According to a statement from Albanese’s office, the two leaders “reaffirmed their commitment to the AUKUS partnership and noted the ongoing and bipartisan support for AUKUS across the aliance.”
“They welcomed the significant progress that has been made this year, including in building Australia’s capabilities to steward and operate its own fleet of conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines from the early 2030s”.
