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Joe Biden to visit Australia in May as Sydney hosts 2023 Quad leaders’ summit

Meeting will bring together leaders of the US, India, Japan and Australia at the Sydney Opera House

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The Sydney Opera House will be the focus of a major security operation when the prime minister, Anthony Albanese , welcomes the US president, Joe Biden and the prime ministers of India and Japan for a key diplomatic event.

Albanese said on Wednesday that “Australia’s most recognisable building” would be the venue for the Quad leaders’ summit on 24 May.

It will be Biden’s first visit to Australia as US president and while in the country he is also expected to address a joint sitting of the Australian parliament.

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, last visited Australia in 2014 when he addressed parliament and a crowd of more than 20,000 people at Sydney Olympic Park.

The other attender, Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, visited Perth late last year to deepen security ties with Australia.

The logistical challenges surrounding the event are immense, given the need for strict security arrangements for hosting the leaders.

It will cost Australia an eye-popping $23m to host the summit, including nearly $5m for the Australian federal police to help secure the event, according to the budget announced last October .

The Quad, a previously informal diplomatic group that has become more active over the last few years, brings together Australia, the US, Japan and India for talks focusing on security and other issues across the Indo-Pacific region.

The Quad is viewed warily by Beijing which denounces the initiative as a means to contain China’s rise.

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One of Albanese’s first acts as prime minister was to travel to Tokyo for the previous Quad leaders’ summit , held just days after the May 2022 election.

“Quad partners are deeply invested in the success of the Indo-Pacific,” Albanese said on Wednesday.

“Leveraging our collective strengths helps Australia advance its interests and more effectively respond to the region’s needs.

“We are always better off when we act together with our close friends and partners.”

Albanese said the leaders would use the occasion to discuss the global economic environment and security challenges.

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“We know that we live in a more insecure world with strategic competition in our region, with the ongoing impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” he said.

Albanese said the meeting was a chance to “showcase this beautiful city and this wonderful country to the entire world” and would have “spin off” benefits.

The premier of New South Wales, Chris Minns, welcomed the announcement, saying it was “fitting the first Quad leaders’ summit on Australian soil will take place in our global city”.

“Our businesses have trading ties that extend across the globe,” Minns said.

“My government and our agencies have been working hard to ensure the success of this significant event over many months.”

Minns said NSW government agencies, including NSW Police and Transport, were in talks with the federal government and would attempt to “minimise disruption to the Sydney community”.

Biden and Kishida will be travelling to Australia after the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on 19-21 May, an event that Albanese will also attend.

Asked on Wednesday about Biden’s decision to seek re-election in 2024 , Albanese said he regarded the president as a friend but would not comment on US politics.

“President Biden will be a very welcome visitor here in Australia,” Albanese said.

The prime minister also confirmed he would attend the Apec meeting in San Francisco later in the year, and was working on a schedule for a bilateral visit to the US.

Albanese and Biden last met in March in San Diego. The pair joined the UK’s Rishi Sunak to announce the multi-decade plans for Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines project under the Aukus deal .

This will be the first time Australia has hosted a Quad leaders’ summit, although the foreign ministers of the four countries met in Melbourne in February 2022.

– with Australian Associated Press

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American President Lyndon B Johnson on official visit to Australia

About this record

This photograph shows United States President Lyndon Baines Johnson among a crowd of people during an official visit to Australia in October 1966.

President Johnson and the Vietnam War

Lyndon B Johnson visited Australia during a crucial phase in the Vietnam War, which took place between 1962 and 1975. His visit was meant to strengthen relations between Australia and the United States at a time when the latter was calling for increased support from its allies.

Johnson's visit provided Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt with an opportunity to reaffirm Australia's policy position and gather public support for Australia’s involvement in Vietnam. Holt, who had invited Johnson to Australia, was steadfastly committed to the war effort. He was a firm supporter of the alliance with the United States. Holt's friendship with Johnson had led to his famous remark in Washington 4 months earlier that the president had a 'staunch friend that will be all the way with LBJ'.

Large crowds came out to see the president during his 4-day visit to major Australian capital cities. While there were reports of some anti-war protestors at these public tours, strong support was also visible. Curiosity probably contributed, at least partially, to the popularity of the tour, as Johnson was the first North American president to visit Australia while in office.

The Australian federal election took place a month after Johnson's visit. The Labor Party was campaigning against Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War. The timing of Johnson’s visit led some to ask whether the tour was intended to strengthen the election chances of the Liberal government under Harold Holt. Vietnam, though, was already on the top of the agenda, and Johnson's influence on increasing public support for Holt is inconclusive. Holt and the Liberal Party won an overwhelming victory in the November election.

Acknowledgments

Learning resource text © Education Services Australia Limited and the National Archives of Australia 2010.

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Indian Prime Minister to visit Sydney, Albanese says after US President Joe Biden cancels

Joe Biden’s cancellation of an important trip to Australia has resulted in a major summit being abandoned, but there are fresh plans for another world leader.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will still visit Australia next week as planned, despite the cancellation of the Quad leaders’ summit in Sydney, Anthony Albanese has confirmed.

The Prime Minister was due to host Mr Modi, US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio — three of the world’s most powerful leaders — at the Sydney Opera House on May 24 after a week packed with events in the NSW capital designed to “showcase Australia to the world”.

But those plans were abandoned on Wednesday morning after Mr Biden cancelled his trip to Australia, citing unfolding difficulties in negotiating an increase to the US’ debt ceiling with Republicans in Washington.

In a major blow, Mr Biden’s decision to pull out was announced just hours after Mr Albanese’s office confirmed the American leader would address federal parliament in Canberra — an event which has also now been cancelled.

Speaking to ABC Radio Brisbane on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Albanese said he was disappointed but insisted Mr Biden would visit Australia “sometime in the future” and reiterated he would make his own trip to the US later this year.

Mr Albanese said Mr Modi would still travel to Australia even though the Quad meeting had been canned.

While Mr Kishida is no longer expected to travel to Australia, Mr Modi is due to visit Sydney as planned with an itinerary that includes a public event at the city’s Olympic Park as well as meetings with business officials.

“I look forward to welcoming him to Sydney,” Mr Albanese said.

Mr Albanese said he and the three other leaders of the quadrilateral security dialogue would get together on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima on the weekend, which Australia has been invited to attend as a guest of Japan.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Albanese said he and his office were in “discussions” with Tokyo and Delhi over their prime ministers’ travel plans, and indicated a senior US government official could fill Mr Biden’s spot at the Quad before confirming the summit would not go ahead at all.

Mr Albanese said he had spoken to Mr Biden early on Wednesday morning, where the President had apologised that he would “now have to postpone this visit”, because of “unfolding difficulties he is facing in his negotiations with the US Congress over the US government debt ceiling”.

The US is on the brink of an economic crisis that could have global implications, with the US Department of Treasury on track to run out of money as early as June 1.

Mr Biden has asked congress to agree to raise the country’s debt ceiling to legally allow the Treasury to incur more debt in order to pay its bills, while Republicans have requested spending cuts in exchange for their support.

“These negotiations are scheduled to enter their critical and concluding phase during the last week of May,” Mr Albanese said.

“Regrettably, this conflicts with the President’s visits to Sydney and Canberra. The President and I agreed that we would work to reschedule his visit to Australia at the earliest opportunity.”

Mr Albanese said he was “absolutely certain” President Biden “wishes this wasn’t happening”.

“It is behaviour that clearly is not in the interests of the people of the United States, but it’s also because the US has a critical role as the world’s largest economy, so it has implications for the global economy as well,” he told ABC Radio Sydney.

The White House early on Wednesday confirmed Mr Biden would return to the US on Sunday when the G7 summit wraps up, and that the President had spoken to both Mr Albanese and Papua New Guinea’s President James Marape’s office as well.

Mr Marape was preparing to host Mr Biden in Port Moresby the day before the President was due to arrive in Sydney.

Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Mr Biden needed to return to the US in order to be back for meetings with Congressional leaders to ensure that Congress takes action by the deadline to avert defaulting on its loans.

She said “revilatising and reinvigorating our alliances and advancing partnerships remains a key priority for the President”.

“This is vital to our ability to advance our foreign policy goals and better promote global stability and prosperity,” she said in a statement.

“We look forward to finding other ways to engage with Australia, the Quad, Papua New Guinea and the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum in the coming year.”

Mr Biden has invited Mr Albanese to the US later this year for an official state visit.

Mr Biden was set to become the first US President to visit Australia since 2014 and the fifth US President ever to give a joint address to the Australian parliament.

He was scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Mr Albanese, where the two leaders were to discuss the “broad friendship” between their two countries as well as “elevating global climate ambition”.

They were also expected to discuss ways to support global economic growth, job creation, and provide affordable, secure and reliable clean energy during the clean energy transition.

Mr Biden’s visit would have followed Mr Albanese’s trip to the US in March, where the details of Australia’s plans to acquire nuclear-powered submarines under the AUKUS agreement with the US and United Kingdom were unveiled.

The Quad security dialogue is widely viewed as a way for its four democratic member nations to collectively push back against China’s expanding influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Next week’s Sydney meeting would have been the first time Australia has hosted the Quad and would have come after Mr Albanese attended last year’s summit in Tokyo in May last year shortly after winning office.

Inflation, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, energy policy and strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific region were among the items on the agenda for the leaders’ discussion.

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DHS Completes Secretary’s Commitment to a Peer-to-Peer Exchange with the Government of Australia as Part of the Australia-United States Joint Council on Combating Online Child Sexual Exploitation

Online child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) increasingly threatens the safety of children globally. In 2023, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received more than 36 million CyberTipline® reports of suspected online child sexual exploitation, a 360% increase over the number of reports received 10 years ago. According to the 2023 WeProtect Global Threat Assessment, the volume of child sexual abuse material has increased globally by 87% over the past five years.

Online CSEA is borderless, and it requires international cooperation to combat the threat it poses to children. In response, President Biden and Australian Prime Minister Albanese committed in May 2023 to establish the Joint Council on Combatting Online Child Sexual Exploitation and reaffirmed this commitment at the Australia state visit to the United States in October 2023. Chaired by U.S Department of Homeland Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas and Australian Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC MP, the new Joint Council, which first met on November 16, will bring together U.S. and Australian policy, regulatory, and law enforcement agencies to build on our strong relationship of mutual collaboration in combating these heinous crimes.

DHS Counter Transnational Organized Crime Principal Director Kristen Best led a U.S. delegation that included representatives from the National Security Council and the Department of Health Human Services through a peer-to-peer information exchange with the Government of Australia. This delegation visit furthers Secretary Mayorkas’ commitment to increase information sharing between nations and establish new areas of collaboration to combat online child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Over the course of the trip, the delegation met with numerous Australian leaders across government, law enforcement, defense, and non-governmental organizations. The groups discussed ways to further underscore safety and resiliency efforts, consolidate and enhance bilateral efforts, and establish new areas of collaboration and information sharing. The work will be guided by a multidisciplinary, victim and survivor-centered work plan to support global efforts to combat online CSEA.

“Australia is a long-standing partner with the United States and the Department of Homeland Security,” said Principal Director Kristen Best . “We are excited to work together with a renewed energy to combat the growing rate and severity of online child sexual exploitation and abuse. Our collaboration is already demonstrating results in prevention and awareness of these threats, as evidenced by the launch of Know2Protect in the United States and One Talk at a Time in Australia. These two campaigns provide information and resources for children, teens, parents, and trusted adults on how to stay safe online, tips on helping victims, and how to report a crime.” 

The Joint Council work focuses on six pillars:  

• Joint Law Enforcement Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific Region 
• Prevention, Awareness, and Outreach 
• Research and Development 
• Joint Operations 
• Policy Development 
• Safety-by-Design

Initiatives like Operation Bakis and Operation Renewed Hope – joint efforts encompassing DHS, Australia, and many other partner agencies and governments – highlight our global partnerships in combating online child sexual exploitation. These joint operations led to the dismantling of several sophisticated online child abuse networks. The operations not only led to legal actions against the perpetrators but also emphasize the importance of protective measures for children and raised public awareness about the risks they face with access to the internet.

The partnership between DHS and the Australian Government is a testament to our global commitment to eradicating child sexual exploitation and abuse, showcasing the importance of international cooperation, technological innovation, and public education in addressing this pervasive issue.

To learn more about the threat of online child sexual exploitation and abuse please visit Know2Protect.gov . 

How to report suspected online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in the United States:  

• If you suspect a child might be a victim of online sexual exploitation, call the Know2Protect Tipline at 1-833-591-KNOW (5669) and complete the online National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Cyber Tipline form .
• If you suspect a child has been abducted or faces imminent danger, call 911 or your local police immediately.

• International Engagement
• Child Exploitation
• International Partnership

US President Joe Biden postpones Australia visit due to domestic debt ceiling crisis

The White House says US President Joe Biden has postponed his planned trip to Australia because of stalled domestic debt ceiling negotiations .

Key points:

• Joe Biden's Australia and PNG trip has been postponed because of the need to avert a breach of the US debt ceiling
• Mr Biden was planning to travel to Australia alongside the Japanese and Indian prime ministers
• Julian Assange's father is appealing for the US president to drop the charges against his son

Mr Biden will leave the US tomorrow to travel to Japan for a meeting of the G7, which Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is also attending.

The US president was planning to travel to Papua New Guinea and Australia afterwards, including visits to Sydney and Canberra for the Quad Leaders' Summit and an address to Australia's parliament.

However, Mr Biden will now fly home directly from Japan after the G7 to negotiate with Republican politicians over the debt ceiling, according to a White House statement.

Negotiations over the debt ceiling have reached a critical point, with Republicans asking for spending cuts in exchange for raising the limit, and the US Treasury set to run out of cash as soon as June 1.

"Revitalising and reinvigorating our alliances and advancing partnerships like the Quad remains a key priority for the president," the statement read.

"We look forward to finding other ways to engage with Australia, the Quad, Papua New Guinea and the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum in the coming year."

Speaking later to reporters, Mr Biden was blunt in his explanation of why the visit had been postponed.

"Defaulting on the debt is simply not an option," he said.

The prime minister told ABC Radio Sydney that Mr Biden had contacted him on Wednesday morning to inform him of the postponement.

"We had a very good discussion this morning … and [he] confirmed he would be postponing his visit," Mr Albanese said.

"He confirmed my invitation to the United States, a state visit later this year, and he is looking forward to getting down to Australia as soon as possible.

"He's very disappointed at some of the actions [of] some members of Congress and the US Senate. We long ago passed the time where opposition parties tried to hold up supply in Australia … but that effectively is what you have got in the US at the moment."

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby earlier said Mr Biden's trip had been "re-evaluated" in light of the ongoing negotiations, and invoked other world leaders as he called on Congressional Republicans to raise the debt limit.

"These leaders … understand how important American credibility and leadership is," he said. "And that's why they understand how important it is that the president stay on top of this issue.

"We wouldn't even be having this discussion about the effect of the debt ceiling debate on the trip if Congress would do its job and raise the debt ceiling the way they've always done."

Mr Biden's visit was to be the first visit by a US president in almost a decade, and would have marked the fifth time an American leader addressed MPs and senators.

Quad leaders' travel being discussed

The prime minister was planning to host Mr Biden, as well as Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for the Quad Leaders' Summit next week .

However, Mr Albanese said in a statement that the government was now in discussion with "our friends in both Tokyo and Delhi" over Mr Kishida and Mr Modi's travel arrangements.

"Once those discussions are concluded, we will make a further announcement on their travel," he said.

Mr Albanese told ABC Radio Sydney that Mr Biden would "try to convene a [Quad] meeting given all four leaders are in Japan" for the G7, but the Quad dialogue in Sydney could still take place with a senior US representative attending in Mr Biden's place.

On Tuesday, Mr Albanese said the summit would be the most significant gathering in Australia since the G20 more than a decade ago.

He said the bilateral relationship with India would deliver economic benefits for Australian trade, investment and business. He said no partner in the Indo-Pacific was closer than Japan.

"Our partnership is underpinned by our shared values, including a commitment to democracy, human rights, free trade and a rules-based order," Mr Albanese said.

The Quad leaders' meeting is scheduled to be held at Sydney's Opera House on May 24.

Postponement a blow for PNG

Mr Biden's decision will be a particular blow for Papua New Guinea, one analyst says.

The president was due to have witnessed the signing of a new strategic agreement with Micronesia and meet with 18 Pacific island leaders in the capital, Port Moresby.

The visit would have made Mr Biden the first sitting US president to visit the country.

Mr Biden's team spoke with leaders in PNG to inform them of the decision, the White House said.

Gregory Poling — an Asia expert at Washington think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies — said Mr Biden's decision would be a setback for PNG, as well as the president's efforts to woo Pacific Island countries in the face of increasing competition from China.

"I'm sure the White House will find ways to make this up to partners in the short term. But it adds to the evidence that US domestic dysfunction weakens us abroad," Mr Poling said.

Fresh appeal for Assange release

The father of Julian Assange earlier renewed his campaign to have the prime minister bring up his son's legal woes and have the US president drop charges against the WikiLeaks founder.

John Shipton said he was preparing to send a letter requesting a meeting with the president ahead of his planned arrival, and protests would continue if the president came to Australia.

"My job is to solely focus on bringing Julian home and speaking to the supporters wherever I can," he told ABC's 7:30 program on Tuesday.

"It's a good time, of course, to remind the president that it is a concern of the Australian people."

Mr Albanese is also due to hold bilateral meetings with the leaders in Australia.

The leaders will discuss climate change and accelerating the clean energy transition as well as Indo-Pacific security.

The Quad is not a military alliance, but was set up to counter Chinese influence in the region.

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United States-Japan-Australia Trilateral Defense Ministers' Meeting (TDMM) 2024 Joint Statement, May 2, 2024

Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles, Japanese Minister of Defense Kihara Minoru, and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III convened a Trilateral Defense Ministerial Meeting in Hawaii on May 2, 2024. This was the thirteenth meeting among the defense leaders of the three nations and highlighted the landmark achievements made in implementing activities and practical areas of cooperation set forth in the 2023 Joint Statement.

The Ministers are united by our shared values and determination to deepen cooperation to promote the security, stability, and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific and beyond.

The Ministers welcomed and acknowledged the significance of each country's recently implemented strategic documents, underscoring their deep strategic alignment and shared values. They affirmed the important role that the trilateral partnership contributes to realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific and the significant progress over the past year demonstrating their growing trilateral coordination at all levels and across all domains.

The Ministers reiterated their strong opposition to any attempts by the People's Republic of China (PRC) to unilaterally change the status quo by force or coercion in the South and East China Seas. This includes concerning and destabilizing actions in the South China Sea, such as unsafe encounters at sea and in the air, the militarization of disputed features, and the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia, including interference with routine maritime operations, and efforts to disrupt other countries' offshore resource exploration. They strongly objected to China's claims and actions that are inconsistent with international law including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and which undermine international rules, standards, and norms. They resolved to work together to support states being able to exercise their rights and freedoms in the maritime domain, including the freedoms of navigation and overflight, consistent with UNCLOS.

The Ministers emphasized the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. They called for the peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues. 

The Ministers reaffirmed their enduring commitment to a peaceful, secure, and prosperous Southeast Asia, where sovereignty is respected, international law is followed, and nations can make decisions free from coercion. They reaffirmed their commitment to ASEAN centrality and unity as well as ASEAN-led regional architecture. They recognized the importance of strengthening cooperation with Southeast Asian partners including the Philippines and welcomed the second meeting of Australia, Japan, Philippines, and United States Defense Ministers and Secretary also being held in Hawaii.

The Ministers committed to deepening cooperation with Pacific island countries, by supporting their needs and efforts in the implementation of the Pacific Islands Forum's 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent. The Ministers affirmed they will continue expanding regional engagement with Pacific counterparts, particularly through the Pacific Islands Forum of which Australia is a member, and other inclusive Pacific architectures. 

The Ministers welcomed the U.S. Coast Guard's deployment of the Harriet Lane Cutter in its inaugural Operation Blue Pacific patrol in Oceania in early 2024. This deployment offered opportunities for the U.S. Coast Guard to work alongside Pacific island countries to share best practices on maritime domain awareness and support efforts led regionally by the Forum Fisheries Agency to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing activities.

The Ministers are deeply concerned about North Korea's nuclear and missile development. They strongly condemn North Korea's repeated launches of missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles and other launches using ballistic missile technology, which are serious violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions. The Ministers strongly condemn the increasing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, including North Korea's export and Russia's procurement of North Korean ballistic missiles in violation of UNSC resolutions, as well as Russia's use of these missiles against Ukraine. The Ministers remain committed to working with the international community to address North Korea's serious threat to the region. They reiterate their call on North Korea to immediately resolve the abductions issue and cease its human rights violations.

The Ministers noted the progress on the introduction of counterstrike capabilities by Japan and investment in long-range strike capabilities by Australia. They confirmed that Australia and Japan would work closely together, and with the United States as these capabilities are introduced.

The Ministers acknowledge the significant progress made by Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States over the past year to implement AUKUS, and noted the positive contribution the AUKUS partnership has on the security and stability in the region. Recognizing Japan's strengths and its close bilateral defense partnerships with all three AUKUS countries, the Ministers acknowledged that AUKUS partners are considering cooperation with Japan on AUKUS Pillar II advanced capability projects.

The Ministers welcomed the August 2023 entry into force of the Japan-Australia Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA), which will enable deeper trilateral cooperation and enhance interoperability by facilitating Australian Defence Force presence alongside the United States Forces in Japan and Japanese Self-Defense Forces alongside the United States Forces in Australia. They marked the inaugural reciprocal deployments of Japan's F-35A aircraft to Australia and Australia's F-35A aircraft to Japan in 2023 as the first cooperative activities under the RAA. Additionally, Ministers welcomed upcoming activities planned for trilateral F-35 joint training in 2025 and 2026. They noted progress on trilateral training using ranges in Australia and the successful conduct of Japan's first anti-air and anti-ship missile launch in Australia in 2023. The Ministers commit to leveraging the RAA to enable Japan's participation, alongside the United States Armed Forces, in force posture activities in Australia over the coming year.

The Ministers welcomed the historic inaugural achievements and activities in trilateral work over the past year and reaffirmed their intent to increase the complexity and scope of their work together. Since 2022, the three militaries have conducted multiple coordinated Asset Protection Missions, undertaken trilateral transits in the South China Sea, and increased the complexity of trilateral Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) cooperation including actual operations in the maritime and air domains. They committed to expanding trilateral ISR cooperation.

The Ministers welcomed Australia's valuable inaugural participation in the U.S.-Japan command post exercise, KEEN EDGE, in February, and the work underway to advance closer operational collaboration.

The Ministers reaffirmed their vision toward a networked air defense architecture among the United States, Japan, and Australia to counter growing air and missile threats in the Indo-Pacific region, including broadening missile defense information sharing and incorporating future capabilities. They announced their intent for the U.S. Armed Forces, Australian Defence Force, and Japan Self-Defense Forces to conduct an inaugural regional air and missile defense live fire exercise in 2027 at Exercise TALISMAN SABRE.

Today Ministers signed the trilateral Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) Projects Arrangement. Science and technology cooperation is vital to maintain their collective edge and deepen their defense cooperation. This landmark arrangement allows the respective defense organizations to pursue areas of interest for operationally-relevant advanced collaboration. Through this arrangement the ministries will further discuss cooperative opportunities in the areas of collaborative combat aircraft and autonomous systems and composite aerospace materials.

Reflecting the critical role the trilateral partnership plays in upholding regional stability, the Ministers committed to enhance our defense cooperation across the following areas:

Trilateral Activities and Exercises:

•       Exercise COPE NORTH 2025 – United States
•       Exercise BUSHIDO GUARDIAN 2025 – Japan
•       Exercise PITCH BLACK 2026 – Australia
• Continue increasing the frequency and complexity of high-end trilateral exercises in northern Australia such as Exercise SOUTHERN JACKAROO.
• Increase opportunities and enhance the complexity of ISR cooperation.
• Regularize Asset Protection Missions for the U.S. Forces and the Australian Defence Force by Japan Self-Defense Forces and transits by Australia, Japan, the United States, and other partners.
• Accelerate and deepen trilateral information-sharing cooperation.
• Continue trilateral policy and strategy dialogues on regional issues.

Expanded Cooperation:

• Pursue trilateral Research Development Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) Arrangement cooperative opportunities in operationally-relevant advanced technologies.
• Boost strategic capabilities cooperation across multiple domains, including the conduct of an inaugural joint and combined live fire air and missile defense exercise in 2027 at Exercise TALISMAN SABRE.
• Increase Japan's participation in Australia-U.S. force posture cooperation activities.

Inclusive Partnerships:

• Deepen engagement with ASEAN Member States (including through the ADMM-Plus framework), Pacific island countries, India, the Republic of Korea, and like-minded partners and allies to uphold and reinforce free and open international order.
• Coordinate capacity building engagements with regional partners.

The Ministers affirmed that trilateral defense cooperation is essential to maintain regional stability, transparency, and respect for international rules and norms. They reiterated their firm determination to keep the Indo-Pacific free, open, secure, and prosperous while continuing to expand the scope of defense cooperation.

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Defense chiefs from US, Australia, Japan and Philippines vow to deepen cooperation

Defense chiefs from the U.S., Australia, Japan and the Philippines vowed to deepen their cooperation as they gathered Thursday in Hawaii for their second-ever joint meeting amid concerns about China’s operations in the South China Sea.

FILE - Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin listens during a House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Defense budget hearing Fiscal Year 2025 on Capitol Hill, April 17, 2024, in Washington. Austin and his counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines gather in Hawaii for their second-ever meeting of defense ministers on Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/John McDonnell, File)

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FILE - Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles speaks during a news conference at the State Department, Dec. 6, 2022, in Washington. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines gather in Hawaii for their second-ever meeting of defense ministers, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

FILE - Japanese Defense Minster Minoru Kihara speaks during a meeting with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon, Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023, in Washington. Austin and his counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines gather in Hawaii for their second-ever meeting of defense ministers, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

HONOLULU (AP) — Defense chiefs from the U.S., Australia, Japan and the Philippines vowed to deepen their cooperation as they gathered Thursday in Hawaii for their second-ever joint meeting amid concerns about China’s operations in the South China Sea.

The meeting came after the four countries last month held their first joint naval exercises in the South China Sea, a major shipping route where Beijing has long-simmering territorial disputes with a number of Southeast Asian nations and has caused alarm with its recent assertiveness in the waters.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters at a news conference after their discussion that the drills strengthened the ability of the nations to work together, build bonds among their forces and underscore their shared commitment to international law in the waterway.

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said the defense chiefs talked about increasing the tempo of their defense exercises.

“Today, the meetings that we have held represent a very significant message to the region and to the world about four democracies which are committed to the global rules-based order,” Marles said at the joint news conference with his counterparts.

Austin hosted the defense chiefs at the U.S. military’s regional headquarters, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, at Camp H.M. Smith in the hills above Pearl Harbor. Earlier in the day, Austin had separate bilateral meetings with Australia and Japan followed by a trilateral meeting with Australia and Japan.

Defense chiefs from the four nations held their first meeting in Singapore last year.

The U.S. has decades-old defense treaties with all three nations.

The U.S. lays no claims to the South China Sea, but has deployed Navy ships and fighter jets in what it calls freedom of navigation operations that have challenged China’s claims to virtually the entire waterway. The U.S. says freedom of navigation and overflight in the waters is in America’s national interest .

Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims in the resource-rich sea. Beijing has refused to recognize a 2016 international arbitration ruling that invalidated its expansive claims on historical grounds.

Skirmishes between Beijing and Manila in particular have flared since last year. Earlier this week, Chinese coast guard ships fired water cannons at two Philippine patrol vessels off off Scarborough Shoal, damaging both.

The repeated high-seas confrontations have sparked fears of a larger conflict that could put China and the United States on a collision course. . The U.S. has warned repeatedly that it’s obligated to defend the Philippines — its oldest treaty ally in Asia — if Filipino forces, ships or aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.

President Joe Biden’s administration has said it aims to build what it calls a “latticework” of alliances in the Indo-Pacific even as the U.S. grapples with the Israel-Hamas war and Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Beijing says the strengthening of U.S. alliances in Asia is aimed at containing China and threatens regional stability.

A New Pacific Arsenal to Counter China

With missiles, submarines and alliances, the Biden administration has built a presence in the region to rein in Beijing’s expansionist goals.

By John Ismay ,  Edward Wong and Pablo Robles April 26, 2024

U.S. officials have long seen their country as a Pacific power, with troops and arsenals at a handful of bases in the region since just after World War II.

U.S. military or partner bases

But the Biden administration says that is no longer good enough to foil what it sees as the greatest threat to the democratic island of Taiwan — a Chinese invasion that could succeed within days.

The United States is sending the most advanced Tomahawk cruise missiles to Japan and has established a new kind of Marine Corps regiment on Okinawa that is designed to fight from small islands and destroy ships at sea.

The Pentagon has gained access to multiple airfields and naval bases in the Philippines , lessening the need for aircraft carriers that could be targeted by China’s long-range missiles and submarines in a time of war.

The Australian government hosts U.S. Marines in the north of the country, and one of three sites in the east will soon be the new home for advanced American-made attack submarines. The United States also has a new security agreement with Papua New Guinea.

Potential submarine bases

Xi Jinping, China’s leader, and other officials in Beijing have watched the U.S. moves with alarm. They call it an encirclement of their nation and say the United States is trying to constrain its main economic and military rival.

Since the start of his administration, President Biden has undertaken a strategy to expand American military access to bases in allied nations across the Asia-Pacific region and to deploy a range of new weapons systems there. He has also said the U.S. military would defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion.

On Wednesday, Mr. Biden signed a $95 billion supplemental military aid and spending bill that Congress had just passed and that includes $8.1 billion to counter China in the region. And Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken traveled to Shanghai and Beijing this week for meetings with Mr. Xi and other officials in which he raised China’s military activity in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, calling it “destabilizing.”

Mr. Xi told Mr. Blinken on Friday that the United States should not play a “zero-sum game” or “create small blocs.” He said that “while each side can have its friends and partners, it should not target, oppose or harm the other,” according to an official Chinese summary of the meeting.

Earlier in April, the leaders of the Philippines and Japan met with Mr. Biden at the White House for the first such summit among the three countries. They announced enhanced defense cooperation, including naval training and exercises, planned jointly and with other partners. Last year, the Biden administration forged a new three-way defense pact with Japan and South Korea.

President Biden held a trilateral meeting earlier this month with the leaders of Japan and the Philippines at the White House.

Yuri Gripas for The New York Times

“In 2023, we drove the most transformative year for U.S. force posture in the Indo-Pacific region in a generation,” Ely S. Ratner, the assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, said in a statement following an interview.

The main change, he said, is having American forces distributed in smaller, more mobile units across a wide arc of the region rather than being concentrated at large bases in northeast Asia. That is largely intended to counter China’s efforts to build up forces that can target aircraft carriers or U.S. military outposts on Okinawa or Guam.

These land forces, including a retrained and refitted U.S. Marine littoral regiment in Okinawa, will now have the ability to attack warships at sea.

For the first time, Japan’s military will receive up to 400 of their own Tomahawk cruise missiles — the newest versions of which can attack ships at sea as well as targets on land from over 1,150 miles away.

The Pentagon has also gained access rights for its troops at four additional bases in the Philippines that could eventually host U.S. warplanes and advanced mobile missile launchers, if Washington and Manila agree that offensive weaponry can be placed there.

The United States has bilateral mutual defense agreements with several allied nations in the region so that an attack on the assets of one nation could trigger a response from the other. Bolstering the U.S. troop presence on the soil of allied countries strengthens that notion of mutual defense.

In addition, the United States continues to send weapons and Green Beret trainers to Taiwan, a de facto independent island and the biggest flashpoint between the United States and China. Mr. Xi has said his nation must eventually take control of Taiwan, by force if necessary.

“We’ve deepened our alliances and partnerships abroad in ways that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago,” Kurt Campbell, the new deputy secretary of state, told reporters last year, when he was the top Asia policy official in the White House.

What Deters China?

Taiwan’s foreign minister, Joseph Wu, said in an interview in Taipei that the strengthened alliances and evolving military force postures were critical to deterring China.

“We are very happy to see that many countries in this region are coming to the realization that they also have to be prepared for further expansions of the P.R.C.,” he said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

To some Chinese military strategists, the U.S. efforts are aimed at keeping China’s naval forces behind the “first island chain” — islands close to mainland Asia that run from Okinawa in Japan to Taiwan to the Philippines.

U.S. military assets along these islands could prevent Chinese warships from getting into the open Pacific waters farther east if conflict were to break out.

Leaders in China’s People’s Liberation Army also talk of establishing military dominance of the “second island chain” — which is farther out in the Pacific and includes Guam, Palau and West Papua.

First Island Chain

Second Island Chain

philippines

But several conservative critics of the administration’s policies argue that the United States should be keeping major arms for its own use and that it is not producing new ships and weapons systems quickly enough to deter China, which is rapidly growing its military .

Some American commanders acknowledge the United States needs to speed up ship production but say the Pentagon’s warfighting abilities in the region still outmatch China’s — and can improve quickly with the right political and budget commitments in Washington.

“We have actually grown our combat capability here in the Pacific over the last years,” Adm. Samuel J. Paparo Jr. said in an interview before becoming the head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command on May 3. “But our trajectory is still not a trajectory that matches our adversary. Our adversaries are building more capability and they’re building more warships — per year — than we are.”

Mr. Paparo said new American warships were still more capable than the ones China is building, and the U.S. military’s “total weight of fires” continued to outmatch that of the People’s Liberation Army, for now.

Warplanes on the flight deck of U.S.S. Carl Vinson, an aircraft carrier, during a joint U.S. and Japanese military exercise in the Philippine Sea in January.

Richard A. Brooks/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty , a Cold War-era arms control agreement between Washington and Moscow, prohibited land-based cruise or ballistic missiles with ranges between 311 miles and 3,420 miles. But after the Trump administration withdrew from the pact, the United States was able to develop and field a large number of small, mobile launchers for previously banned missiles around Asia.

Even with the deployment of new systems, the United States would still rely on its legacy assets in the region in the event of war: its bases in Guam, Japan and South Korea, and the troops and arms there.

All of the senior U.S. officials interviewed for this story say war with China is neither desirable nor inevitable — a view expressed publicly by Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III. But they also insist that a military buildup and bolstering alliances, along with diplomatic talks with China, are important elements of deterring potential future aggression by Beijing.

Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, told Mr. Blinken on Friday in Beijing that “the negative factors in the relationship are still increasing and building, and the relationship is facing all kinds of disruptions.” He warned the United States “not to interfere in China’s internal affairs, not to hold China’s development back, and not to step on China’s red lines and on China’s sovereignty, security and development interests.”

U.S. military or

partner bases

The new deterrent effort is twofold for American forces: increasing patrolling activities at sea and the capabilities of its troop levels ashore.

To the former, the Pentagon has announced that U.S. Navy warships will participate in more drills with their Japanese counterparts in the western Ryukyu Islands near Taiwan and with Filipino ships in the South China Sea, where the Chinese coast guard has harassed ships and installations controlled by the Philippines .

A swarm of Chinese militia and Coast Guard vessels chased a Philippine Coast Guard ship in the South China Sea last year.

Jes Aznar for The New York Times

To the latter, Marine Corps and Army units already in the Pacific have recently fielded medium- and long-range missiles mated to small, mobile trucks that would have been prohibited under the former treaty.

These trucks can be quickly lifted by Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft or larger cargo planes to new locations, or they can simply drive away to evade a Chinese counterattack. A new flotilla of U.S. Army watercraft being sent to the region could also be used to reposition troops and launchers from island to island.

In an interview last year with The New York Times, Gen. David H. Berger, then the Marine Corps’ top general, said the service had begun analyzing strategic choke points between islands where Chinese forces were likely to transit throughout the Pacific. He said the service had identified sites where Marine assault forces like the new Okinawa-based littoral regiment could launch attacks on Beijing’s warships using these new weapons.

Philippines

Partner bases

The Pentagon announced in February last year a new military base-sharing agreement with Manila, giving U.S. forces access to four sites in the Philippines for use in humanitarian missions, adding to the five sites previously opened to the Pentagon in 2014. Most of them are air bases with runways long enough to host heavy cargo planes.

Plotting their locations on a map shows the sites’ strategic value should the United States be called upon to defend their oldest treaty ally in the region , if the Philippines eventually agrees to allow the U.S. military to put combat troops and mobile missile systems there.

One, on the northern tip of Luzon Island, would give missile-launching trucks the ability to attack Chinese ships across the strait separating Philippines from Taiwan, while another site about 700 miles to the southwest would allow the U.S. to strike bases that China has built in the Spratly Islands nearby.

In 2023, the United States committed $100 million for “infrastructure investments” at the nine bases, with more funds expected this year.

The Pentagon has forged closer military ties with Australia and Papua New Guinea , extending America’s bulwark against potential attempts by the Chinese military at establishing dominance along the “second island chain.”

The Obama administration moved a number of littoral combat ships to Singapore and deployed a rotating force of Marines to Darwin, on Australia’s north coast, giving the Pentagon more assets that could respond as needed in the region.

Last year, the Biden administration greatly elevated its commitment to Australia, which is one of America’s most important non-NATO allies.

The U.S.S. North Carolina, a Virginia-class submarine, docking in Perth, Australia, last year.

Tony Mcdonough/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A new multibillion dollar agreement called AUKUS — for Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States — will permanently transfer some of the U.S. Navy’s newest Virginia-class attack subs to Canberra . The location of the new bases for those subs has not been announced, but the first group of Australian sailors who will crew them graduated from nuclear power training in America in January.

These stealthy submarines, which can fire torpedoes and Tomahawk missiles, will potentially add to the number of threats Beijing faces in case of a regional war.

Just north of Australia, an agreement in August gave U.S. forces more access to Papua New Guinea for humanitarian missions and committed American tax dollars to update military facilities there.

To Admiral Paparo, this growing network of partnerships and security agreements across thousands of miles of the Pacific is a direct result of what he calls China’s “revanchist, revisionist and expansionist agenda” in the region that has directly threatened its neighbors.

“I do believe that the U.S. and our allies and partners are playing a stronger hand and that we would prevail in any fight that arose in the Western Pacific,” the admiral said.

“It’s a hand that I would not trade with our would-be adversaries, and yet we’re also never satisfied with the strength of that hand and always looking to improve it.”

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Australia-United   States Joint Leaders’ Statement – An Alliance for our   Times

We, Prime Minister Albanese and President Biden, meet at a uniquely consequential time for our Alliance, the Indo-Pacific, and the world.

Our partnership reflects more than one hundred years of trust, respect, friendship and shared sacrifice. Our relationship is founded on a shared commitment to supporting an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific, and a peaceful, inclusive and rules-based international order based on respect for international law and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states. It is anchored in shared values of democracy, the rule of law, and the protection and promotion of human rights.

Today we renew these bonds as we enhance the Alliance to respond to evolving challenges.

Addressing Climate and Biodiversity Action, and Clean Energy Transition

Today we have signed a statement of intent to advance our climate cooperation through the Australia-United States Climate, Critical Minerals, and Clean Energy Transformation Compact. We are taking urgent action to elevate global climate ambition, accelerate the global clean energy transition, and support mitigation, adaptation and resilience efforts in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. The Compact affirms the position of climate and clean energy as the third pillar of the Alliance, alongside our defence and economic cooperation.

Under the Compact, Australia and the United States intend for our private sectors, resources, and industrial strength to drive innovation and accelerate the establishment of a responsible, secure, and inclusive global clean energy economy. We intend to coordinate to spur the diversification and expansion of clean energy supply chains, address the growing energy demands of the Indo-Pacific, and enhance the Indo-Pacific’s role as a primary driver of global prosperity. The newly-established Australia-U.S. Forum on Clean Energy Industrial Transformation and Taskforce on Critical Minerals will allow both our countries to deepen cooperation to deliver sustainable, resilient, and secure critical minerals and clean energy to the world and reduce emissions.

Our countries are committed to halting and reversing environmental degradation, including via environmental economic accounting and reporting, nature-based solutions, preventing pollution, and protecting and restoring biodiversity on both land and in water. The United States applauds Australia in creating Environment Protection Australia, its national environment protection agency, and plans to support efforts to share information and best practices through a forthcoming memorandum of understanding between our environmental agencies.

The United States and Australia share a proud tradition of working together to improve ocean health and using science for sustainable development and conservation of the ocean. This collaboration is being enhanced through a new arrangement to advance Pacific Ocean exploration and mapping between the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Geoscience Australia, and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. These three leading science agencies are working together in consultation with Pacific islands countries to conduct new hydrographic mapping activities, provide technical exchange and expertise of ocean characterisation, and conduct joint exploration expeditions and campaigns across the Pacific to accelerate our understanding of the ocean to advance climate solutions, the new blue economy, and stewardship priorities.

Building our Defence Capability

We welcome the progress being made to provide Australia with a conventionally-armed, nuclear‑powered submarine capability, and on developing advanced capabilities under the trilateral AUKUS partnership to deter aggression and sustain peace and stability across the Indo-Pacific. We are prioritising improving information sharing and technology cooperation mechanisms required to advance our defence and security collaboration, including through AUKUS.

The President plans to ask the United States Congress to add Australia as a “domestic source” within the meaning of Title III of the Defense Production Act. Doing so would streamline technological and industrial base collaboration, accelerate and strengthen AUKUS implementation, and build new opportunities for United States investment in the production and purchase of Australian critical minerals, critical technologies, and other strategic sectors.

We also acknowledge the work under way to implement Australia-United States Enhanced Force Posture Cooperation, including accelerating Japan’s involvement in force posture related activities.

Harnessing Emerging Technologies

Australia and the United States stand ready to seize the opportunities of quantum and advanced technologies, building upon our Joint Statement of Collaboration on Quantum, signed in November 2021, and the release of Australia’s National Quantum Strategy. We are determined to deepen cooperation on initiatives to be delivered in the coming year, and to work bilaterally and with partners to drive innovation and responsible norms and standards for emerging technologies as we lead the quantum revolution.

The United States also appreciates the collaboration with Australian counterparts on promoting telecommunications supplier diversity, including Open Radio Access Networks (Open RAN), given its strong potential to advance resilience, competitiveness, and diversity priorities shared by many bilateral and multilateral partners with regard to telecoms network infrastructure.

We acknowledge the importance of facilitating the free flow of data across borders through an open, global, interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet and reiterate our shared commitment to participating in multilateral fora such as the Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules Forum, which was established to support the free flow of data and effective data protection and privacy globally.

Reaching New Frontiers in Space

Space collaboration is a rich opportunity to build high-skilled, well-paying jobs and increase investment between our countries. Australia and the United States have reached agreement in principle, subject to final domestic authorisations, on the Technology Safeguards Agreement, to allow for the controlled transfer of sensitive US launch technology and data while protecting US technology consistent with US non‑proliferation policy, the Missile Technology Control Regime and US export controls.

As founding signatories to the Artemis Accords, and building on more than 60 years of cooperation in lunar exploration, we intend to establish a new Australia-based ground station supporting NASA’s Artemis program that will provide near-continuous communications support to lunar missions.

Securing Peace and Future Prosperity

We are committed to upholding a global order based on international law, including the fundamental principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. We condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s war violates international law, including the UN Charter, and is driving global food and energy insecurity – the effects of which are reverberating in the Indo-Pacific region. We once again call on Russia to immediately, completely, and unconditionally withdraw its forces from within the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine. As part of our continuing, coordinated actions to impose costs on Russia for its appalling actions in Ukraine, Australia and the United States both imposed a further tranche of sanctions and trade measures on Russian entities and individuals on 19 May whilst at the G7 Summit.

We reiterate our commitment to the global non-proliferation regime, including the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, as the cornerstone of the non-proliferation and disarmament regime. We reaffirmed our commitment towards the ultimate goal of a world without nuclear weapons.

Both leaders applauded Japan’s hosting of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, and its contribution to promoting an inclusive and rules-based international order.

The Quad Leaders’ Summit in Hiroshima will demonstrate the Quad’s enduring contribution to the development, stability, and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific through its positive, practical agenda. We look forward to the next Quad Leaders’ Summit being held in India. We strongly support India’s G20 presidency under the theme of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’ and its overarching focus on sustainable development, in addressing the most pressing global challenges together.

We are working through the Pacific Islands Forum and other long-standing Pacific regional institutions to listen to and partner with the countries of the Pacific to meet the region’s needs. We intend to pursue joint financing to help modernise and secure infrastructure in the region, including by working with regional organisations and mechanisms like the Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility and other initiatives such as the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment that promote and maintain high standards, including on labour and environmental practices. Australia welcomes the US commitment to explore new grant funding for infrastructure projects in the Pacific, and its intent to further develop sovereign financing capacity to meet critical infrastructure needs in the Pacific. Australia welcomes the US commitment through USAID to pre-position disaster response stores with Australia’s managed supplies in Brisbane and Papua New Guinea to improve response times.

The United States Coast Guard plans to deploy a US Coast Guard Cutter to the Pacific in early 2024, to provide an enduring humanitarian presence in the region, complementary to Australia’s Pacific Support Vessel. We welcome the growing partnership between the United States Coast Guard, the Australian Defence Force, and Australian Border Force with Pacific partners to enhance the maritime security of the Blue Pacific and address the challenge of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. This includes through the delivery of training coordinated with Australia’s Pacific Maritime Security Program. We are committed to exploring options to support enhanced US Coast Guard engagement in the region, including logistics.

We reiterate our enduring commitment to deepen our respective engagement with Southeast Asia. As Comprehensive Strategic Partners of ASEAN, we reaffirm our commitment to ASEAN centrality and ASEAN-led regional architecture. We express our strong support for Indonesia’s priorities as the 2023 ASEAN Chair, including its leadership of the East Asia Summit in Jakarta this year. We look forward to furthering trilateral cooperation with regional partners, including both Japan and the Philippines.

We emphasise the importance of all states being able to exercise rights and freedoms in a manner consistent with international law as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, including freedom of navigation and overflight. We strongly oppose destabilising actions in the South China Sea, such as the militarisation of disputed features, the dangerous use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia, and efforts to disrupt other countries’ offshore resource exploitation. We are also concerned about the People’s Republic of China’s excessive maritime claims that are inconsistent with international law and unilateral actions that may raise tensions in the region. We resolve to work with partners to support regional maritime security and uphold international law.

We reaffirm the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and our shared opposition to unilateral changes to the status quo. We call for the peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues through dialogue without the threat or use of force or coercion.

Building Cyber Capacity and Protecting Children Online

The United States and Australia recognise the importance of supporting the Pacific to adopt and adapt to new digital technologies, and to manage the risks that accompany these, in order to ensure a more peaceful, prosperous, and resilient region. We commit to working together on cyber security capacity building objectives, approaches, and policies in the Pacific, and to listen to Pacific partner countries’ priorities to inform future cooperation.

Online child sexual exploitation and abuse is increasingly prevalent, commodified, organised, and worsened by the speed, scale, and scope of digital technologies. We are steadfast in combatting all forms of child exploitation and abuse in our communities, online and internationally. For this reason, we have decided to take steps to establish the Australia-United States Joint Council on Combatting Online Child Sexual Exploitation. The Council will develop and facilitate the implementation of a joint, multidisciplinary work plan which includes cooperation in the Indo-Pacific; driving a trauma-informed and victim and survivor-centred approach; research and development; operational opportunities; policy and legislation; prevention, awareness, and outreach; and Safety by Design.

Fostering Free and Fair Trade and Strengthening Economic Resilience

We are committed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the shared values upon which it is based, including fair competition, openness, transparency and the rule of law. We intend to work together to improve the system through reform, including so that it can better achieve the WTO’s foundational objectives and help address global challenges. We reaffirm the commitment of Ministers at the Twelfth Session of the WTO Ministerial Conference to work towards necessary reform of the WTO to improve all of its functions, including to conduct discussions with the view to having a fully- and well-functioning dispute settlement system accessible to all members by 2024.

We also plan to work with the Pacific to help maintain access to enduring banking services, including correspondent banking relationships which are vital to facilitate trade, remittances, and investment.

We reaffirm our ongoing efforts to strengthen our shared economic security, including via the Australia-United States Strategic Commercial Dialogue, which will convene in Detroit later this week. We look forward to seeing one another again in San Francisco this November for the APEC Economic Leaders’ Week, to advance sustainable and inclusive economic growth in the region. We also look forward to working together to deliver tangible benefits under the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity by the end of this year.

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Democrats urge Biden to act on immigration as Trump threatens deportations

WASHINGTON — Immigration advocates and Democratic lawmakers are urging President Joe Biden to prioritize long-term undocumented immigrants as his administration weighs executive actions to curb record crossings along the southern border.

In a letter signed by more than 80 lawmakers, including members of the Congressional Hispanic and Progressive caucuses, the Democrats ask Biden to “take all available actions to streamline pathways to lawful status for undocumented immigrants” ahead of the November election.

“Deporting all such individuals — as former President Donald Trump has threatened to do if reelected — would devastate the American economy and destroy American families,” they added.

The letter offers concrete steps they say the White House could take, including streamlining the process by which DACA recipients, or immigrants brought to the country illegally as children, can seek to change to a nonimmigrant status.

Lawmakers also ask Biden to unify families by allowing undocumented migrants married to U.S. citizens to seek parole on a case-by-case basis and reduce processing times for green card cases so that those migrants could be eligible to work.

The chair of the Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Nanette Barragan, D-Calif., said in a statement that Biden “should seize this critical moment by exercising his Executive Authority to rebuild our broken immigration system.”

“We urge him to provide pathways to citizenship and protections for the millions of long-term undocumented residents who have contributed to the rich fabric of the United States,” she said.

The new push follows a letter in March from Senate Democrats, led by Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin, of Illinois, and Immigration Subcommittee Chair Alex Padilla, of California, outlining the same call to action.

”As the Biden administration considers executive actions on immigration, we must not return to failed Trump-era policies aimed at banning asylum and moving us backwards,” Padilla told NBC News in a statement.

On Monday, NBC News reported that Biden is considering using his executive authority in the coming weeks to potentially restrict the number of migrants who can enter the U.S. 

The administration has been in touch with immigration advocacy groups ahead of any executive order.

A Department of Homeland Security official with knowledge of the discussions said the White House would most likely invoke power reserved for the president in Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows a president discretion over who is admitted into the U.S.

Under that authority, Customs and Border Protection would be directed to block the entry of migrants crossing over from Mexico if daily border crossings passed a certain threshold. It’s similar to a provision of the border bill negotiated by a bipartisan group of senators earlier this year, which was killed by Republicans , in part, at Trump’s urging .

Advocates are worried that the policy would be too restrictive on asylum, as are some Democrats who opposed the bill in February and called for a legal pathway to citizenship for undocumented people in the U.S. to be included in the text.

Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus lobbied the administration over months to no avail, with Democratic leadership eventually giving up its long-held red line on immigration reform to unlock aid to Ukraine amid a Republican blockade.

The GOP rejected the bipartisan compromise regardless, effectively sinking all near-term prospects for Congress to tackle an issue that has plagued the U.S. government for years.

Nonetheless, Padilla said this is Biden’s “opportunity” to “provide relief for the long-term immigrants of this nation.”

Padilla is leading a news conference Wednesday afternoon with lawmakers and advocates from FWD.us, American Families United, UnidosUS and CASA to spotlight the letter to Biden.

The president of FWD.us, an immigration advocacy group, said in a statement that most Americans “don’t have the opportunity to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of American families — but President Biden does.”

”He has the legal authority to provide affirmative relief to the spouses of U.S. citizens, and other longtime undocumented community members,” Todd Schulte said. “We hope, and believe, he will act soon to protect these American families.”

Julie Tsirkin is a correspondent covering Capitol Hill.