No images? Click here 15 SeptemberAUSMIN beginsAustralia’s Defence Minister Peter Dutton and Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne head to Washington this week for the 31st annual Australia-US Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) – their first joint meeting with the Biden team. Seeking to improve its strategic position in the region, as the USSC's Ashley Townshend and Tom Corben argue, AUSMIN represents an essential opportunity for Washington to deliver on its decade-old promise for an Indo-Pacific pivot. As we turn to discussions of the future for the alliance, several USSC experts addressed the topic in this week's Roadmap to Biden’s first AUSMIN webinar. USSC experts will continue to provide analysis on both AUSMIN as well as the first Biden-Morrison bilateral meeting as part of The Quad next week. Continuing these discussions and the USSC’s commemorating the Alliance at 70, we hope that you’ll join us next week for an address and in-conversation webinar event with Shadow Foreign Minister the Hon Penny Wong on the USSC's recent report: Correcting the course: How the Biden administration should compete for influence in the Indo-Pacific. WEBINAR | 23 SeptemberAustralia, the United States and the Indo-Pacific Please join us for a virtual address and in-conversation event with Senator the Hon Penny Wong to launch United States Studies Centre report “Correcting the course: How the Biden administration should compete for influence in the Indo-Pacific.” Senator Wong will deliver her remarks on the “Australia-US alliance in the Indo-Pacific” in the wake of this month’s 70th anniversary of the ANZUS Treaty and the Australia-US Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) in Washington DC. She will then join report co-authors Ashley Townshend and Susannah Patton for a discussion on the United States’ role in the Indo-Pacific region and the way forward for Australian policy. WHEN: COST: You can also subscribe to have event invitations and reminders sent straight to your inbox, so you never have to miss an event! NEWS WRAPBringing it back to Indo-Pac
"In a few short days, I look forward to hosting Australian Minister for Defence Dutton at the Pentagon, followed by this year’s Australia - United States Ministerial (AUSMIN) consultations here in Washington, D.C. Together, we will work to ensure that our Alliance continues to move forward with strength and purpose for decades to come." ANALYSISWill Biden keep his promise to Australia and keep China in check?Dr John Lee When Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Peter Dutton arrive in Washington this Thursday to meet with their American counterparts for the annual bilateral talks known as AUSMIN, China will loom larger than ever. Ms Payne and Mr Dutton are here to build on President Biden’s promise to work more closely with allies to manage or confront the worst aspects of Chinese behaviour. Will the US deliver? America has many allies, but Australia is one of the more reliable in a time of genuine need. Australia has been involved in every major conflict Americans have taken part in since the Second World War and is one of the few countries in the Indo-Pacific prepared to directly counter Beijing’s illegitimate or coercive behaviour. The country has the bruises to show for its stand against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — in the form of ongoing economic punishments against Australian exporters. Regardless, there is bipartisan political support within Australia to stand firm and absorb the cost of doing so. While America and its allies have spent the last three decades magnanimously preserving the peace, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been assiduously preparing for war. The PLA’s primary target is Taiwan, but we all know its ambitions won’t end there. Beijing has been clear that it will use whatever means available, including the use of force, to achieve its objectives in the East and South China Seas. It’s become increasingly clear that we have less time to prepare and respond to this threat than we assumed just a few years ago. Recent advances in Australian strategic and military thinking reflect this recognition: The 2020 Defence Strategic Update (Australia’s principal public military strategy) maps out a plan to develop asymmetric capabilities such as longer-range missiles, unmanned vehicles, and offensive cyber resources to shape the strategic environment, deter other countries, and respond to any use of force against an enemy. It accepts that Australia could be obliged to fight a more powerful conventional Chinese foe, not necessarily to defend its territory, but as part of a coalition of the willing somewhere in East Asia. America should be pleased that Australia is preparing to play its part in any collective action to check CCP expansionism. Even so, the timeline to bring in these and other military assets stretches to the next decade and beyond. That is not good enough, because Chinese President Xi Jinping is nothing if not impatient. The odds are increasing that Beijing will use force — perhaps in Taiwan — in a few short years. If Australia is to help shape the environment or contribute meaningfully to American-led efforts to deter or respond to the martial intentions of China, America must accelerate Australia’s development and deployment of these weapons. This is an excerpt from Dr John Lee's recent article first published in The Hill. BY THE NUMBERSAUSMIN: All in the words Sarah Hamilton After each AUSMIN Consultation, US and Australian officials release a Joint Communiqué outlining the key priorities to the US-Australian partnership. The statement from the Trump administration's first AUSMIN conference in 2017 was notoriously short at just 618 words. But beyond the Trump administration, there appears to be a partisan difference with AUSMIN Joint Communiuqés much lengthier under Democratic administrations. The average word length under each administration:
THE ALLIANCE AT 70 | COMMENCING CONSULTATIONSANZUS split prompts AUSMIN An excerpt from The Alliance at 70 In 1984, New Zealand refused to allow nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships or submarines in its ports. Given the US Navy refused to confirm or deny the presence of nuclear weapons aboard its ships, this closed NZ ports to all US Navy ships. In response, the United States formally suspended its security guarantee to New Zealand under the trilateral ANZUS Treaty. On the same day, 11 August 1986, Australia and the United States exchanged letters reaffirming their commitment under the Treaty. This unwittingly led to the greater formalisation of the US-Australian Alliance. The regular ANZUS Council of Foreign Ministers, which had served as the primary forum conducted within the ANZUS framework, was now redundant. AUSMIN, an annual meeting of Australian and US foreign and defence ministers and senior intelligence, military and diplomatic officials, emerged as its replacement. Australia and the United States met for the first AUSMIN in Canberra in 1985, with principals the US Secretaries of State (George Shultz) and Defense (delegate, Admiral William Crowe) and the Australian Ministers for Foreign Affairs (Bill Hayden) and Defence (Kim Beazley). The discussion of major global and regional political issues at AUSMIN has become a primary source of agenda-setting and decisively strengthens the Alliance, featuring regular, uninterrupted personal time in a ‘2+2’ meeting of strategically important ministers. AUSMIN also allows grievances and disagreements to be aired, such as at the 1994 meeting, when Australia voiced its concerns about US policy towards China and Japan. That year’s AUSMIN, which had been delayed a year due to the Middle East Accord negotiations, saw Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Under Secretary of Defense Frank Wisner, and Australian Ministers Gareth Evans and Robert Ray clash over the US-Japan trade stand-off wherein the United States wanted Japan to open trade to all markets. The means of dealing with Chinese human rights violations was also a sticking point, just as the Alliance partners were pushing to elevate the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. …. Major outcomes from AUSMIN have included the Memorandum of Understanding on Ballistic Missile Defense (2004) to protect Australia from ballistic missile proliferation, the Space Situational Awareness Partnership (2010) to better monitor and track orbiting space-based objects, and the US Force Posture Agreement (2014). The 2014 understanding formalised plans to increase the rotation of US Marine Corps troops through Darwin, embark on trilateral military exercises in Southeast Asia, and enhance aircraft and naval cooperation and the interoperability of special forces. VIDEOTwenty years since 9/11With Major General Duncan Lewis and General David Petraeus 2021 marked 20 years since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States, the precursor to US-led military operations in Afghanistan, joined by Australia. Last week, the United States Studies Centre hosted USSC Non-Resident Senior Fellow Duncan Lewis AO, DSC, CSC and General David H. Petraeus (US Army, Retired). Both held senior leadership roles in uniform and in civilian life during the post-9/11 conflicts and are uniquely well placed to discuss this topic. Moderating the conversation was USSC Visiting Senior Fellow Jane Hardy, whose most recent posting was as the most senior Australian civilian representative at INDOPACOM in Honolulu. If you missed the event, the full replay is now available to stream. Tune in HERE. Catch more analysis on the United States on the USSC YouTube channel. Manage your email preferences | Forward this email to a friend United States Studies Centre |