US President Joe Biden is expanding cooperation with the UK and Australia, the so-called’AUKUS’ security alliance. Mainly, China’s response seems to be the common agenda of these three countries.
According to the White House, President Biden held a series of bilateral meetings with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanage in San Diego, California on the 13th (local time). Prior to these bilateral talks, trilateral talks were also held.
In a statement, the White House briefed on the details of the series of bilateral talks with Britain and Australia. Statements related to the summit with these two countries included “the challenge posed by China” as a common phrase.
Ocus is considered an alliance to check China’s expansion of military influence in the Pacific and other areas. The White House said that at each bilateral meeting, the leaders “emphasized their shared commitment to promote regional security through Ocus.”
A Russian invasion of Ukraine was also discussed. It will continue to support Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.
At the bilateral meeting with Australia, discussions on the so-called ‘Quad’ were also held. Quad is a security consultative body of four countries, the United States, Australia, Japan, and India, and is also widely evaluated for containment of China.
The White House explained that President Biden and Prime Minister Albanage discussed strengthening cooperation through the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and the Blue Pacific Partner (PBP), as well as cooperation through quads.
In addition, the White House announced that President Biden invited British Prime Minister Sunak to Washington in June. He also said he would continue to invest and collaborate with the UK in areas such as clean energy transition.
In addition, ahead of the G7 summit to be held in Japan in May, the economic teams of the two countries will intensively cooperate on diversification of supply chains, including core minerals.
Meanwhile, in April, before Prime Minister Sunak’s visit to the United States, President Biden is expected to visit Northern Ireland on the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement (Belfast Peace Agreement).
Prime Minister Sunak first invited President Biden, and President Biden told reporters, “It is my intention to go to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.”
On this day, the leaders of the three countries, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, held a three-way meeting prior to each bilateral meeting.
President Biden announced at a press conference after the trilateral meeting that he would sell up to five submarines, including three Virginia-class submarines to Australia in the 2030s, and two more if necessary.
On this day, President Biden answered “no” to the question of whether this Okus move would be aggressively accepted by China. In addition, when asked about plans for dialogue with Chinese President Xi Jinping, he said “yes”.
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Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.