US, Australia to boost ties to counter China

The United States and Australia pledged on Saturday to boost existing security ties and work together to prod a rising and increasingly assertive China to behave responsibly in the Asia-Pacific and elsewhere.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said Washington and Canberra would enhance already strong military and defence cooperation by expanding joint exercises and the use of each others training facilities. And, they agreed to join forces to push China to take a more positive approach in its backyard. The comments came at a joint news conference ahead of their participation in annual strategic talks between the US and Australia to be held here on Monday. Clinton and Rudd will be joined at those talks by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith.

Neither Clinton nor Rudd offered details of the expanded defence relationship to be discussed on Monday. However, Rudd said Australia would “welcome the United States making greater use of our ports and our training facilities, our test-firing ranges. That has been the case in decades past and will be the case for decades in the future.”

At the same time, both stressed the importance of a responsible China to regional and global stability. “We want to see China’s rise be successful, bring benefits to the Chinese people but to take on greater responsibility and a rules-based approach towards all of its neighbours,” Clinton told reporters. Rudd, a former prime minister and diplomat who is fluent in Mandarin and served in China, agreed.

He said the diplomatic work the United States and Australia are doing in the Asia-Pacific, along with their projection of power, is critical to maintaining a strategic balance in the region. “This is very important in shaping rules-based order and habits of cooperation and predictability of behaviour within the Asia-Pacific region that is in our common interest to underpin our stability and our security for this new century,” he said.