U.S. and Australian officials gathered in Washington last week for the 40th annual Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN). Common Dreams reported on Dec. 9 from this meeting that “the message was unmistakable: the U.S.-Australia military partnership is no longer simply deepening, it is fusing. Secretary of State Marco Rubio opened the meeting by emphasizing that Australia is ‘our only ally that has fought with us in every war’ in recent decades. The subtext was clear: Canberra is not just a regional partner, it’s becoming a frontline state in Washington’s long-haul competition with China.” The article was reprinted by Consortium News on Dec. 16.
Author Julia Norman adds: “This year’s consultations landed at a moment when AUKUS, the trilateral pact binding Australia, the U.S. and the U.K. in a decades-long nuclear-submarine and advanced weapons partnership, is shifting from paperwork to production…. Both Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth reaffirmed President Donald Trump’s late-October declaration that the U.S. would push ‘full steam ahead’ on AUKUS, before outlining the plans for an Indo-Pacific security architecture dictated by deterrence, denial and industrialized militarization.”
Hegseth issued a list of joint initiatives to be implemented: “upgrades to Australian air bases to accommodate expanded U.S. bomber rotations; co-production of guided weapons, precision-strike missiles, and hypersonic systems; enhanced cooperation on Mark 54 torpedoes; and the integration of rare-earth and critical-mineral supply chains,” according to Common Dreams.
“’These are practical, realistic ways that our two countries can come together to ensure that we provide peace through strength,’ Hegseth said. ‘The stronger we are together the more we can deter the kinds of conflicts neither of us want to see,’” said the warhawk.
