Anthony Albanese has urged the United States to maintain open lines of communication with China, saying Australia as a “constructive middle power” understands the importance of dialogue.
The prime minister on Thursday addressed a state lunch co-hosted by US Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken as his visit to Washington drew to a close.
Opposing the threat posed by China in the Indo-Pacific featured strongly in his speech at the US State Department.
“As a constructive middle power with global interests we understand the value and importance of dialogue,” he said.
“Which is why Australia strongly supports the Biden administration’s efforts to maintain open lines of communication between the United States of America and the People’s Republic of China.”
Mr Albanese said China had been explicit that it does not see itself as a status-quo power.
“It seeks a region and a world that is much more accommodating of its values and interests.”
The prime minister said it was the responsibility of every nation that benefited from the stability and prosperity of the international rules-based order to work together and protect it.
That included securing the sovereignty that conferred every nation’s right to determine its own destiny, protecting freedom of navigation central to shared prosperity and upholding human rights central to every individual’s life and liberty.
“And working together to maintain peace – not just in the Taiwan Strait but wherever it is at risk,” Mr Albanese said.
“This means investing in our capabilities to prevent competition escalating into conflict.”
The prime minister said Australia was clear-eyed about stabilising its relationship with China, a nation with a very different history, values and political systems.
“Australia will always look to co-operate with China where we can, disagree where we must and engage, in our national interest.”
Mr Albanese said Australia’s approach had been “patient, calibrated and deliberate” and that would continue when he visited Beijing and Shanghai next month.
He said the rationale for the AUKUS defence partnership allowing Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines was straightforward: “we want to contribute to strategic equilibrium in the Indo-Pacific”.
“We are not looking for conflict – we are seeking to prevent it.”
Also on Thursday, Mr Albanese met the new speaker of the US House of Representatives, saying he hoped Congress would pass legislation related to the AUKUS submarine project this year.
Albanese met Mike Johnson on Capitol Hill, a day after Johnson’s appointment following protracted wrangling among House Republicans.
Mr Albanese also met with the Friends of Australia Congressional Caucus and visited the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) headquarters.
The caucus is a bipartisan group of US Congress members who have played a significant role in promoting Australia-US relations.
Members of the caucus are seeking legislative reform to the US International Traffic in Arms Regulations to advance the objectives of the AUKUS partnership.
Mr Albanese’s FEMA visit included talks with FEMA Acting Administrator Eric Hooks.
In a statement after the visit Mr Albanese praised the courage and dedication of Australian and US emergency management personnel and the assistance they gave each other.
“With over 100 years of mateship, Australia and the United States have a proud history of helping each other in times of need, including when faced with natural disasters.”
Mr Albanese said the US provided firefighting support to Australia during the Black Summer bushfires and Australia sent a firefighting air tanker to Idaho to assist in firefighting across six US states.
At the state lunch the prime minister witnessed the signing ceremony of the Technology Safeguards Agreement.
The treaty-level agreement to protect sensitive US space technology to be used in Australia for launch and/or return consolidates an in-principle agreement reached by Mr Albanese and Mr Biden in May.
The deal will allow US rockets and satellites to be launched from Australia and support the domestic launch sector and spaceports to grow, creating Australian jobs and infrastructure.
with reuters
