Australia and the United States are working in lockstep to ensure stability amid the growing influence of China in the Indo-Pacific region, the US Deputy Secretary of State says.
Wendy Sherman met with Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Monday to discuss the two nations’ support of a free and open Indo-Pacific while also deepening their economic engagement in the region.
A shared commitment to the rules-based order is the basis for the “extraordinary alliance” between Australia and the United States, Ms Sherman said.
“Out of (World War II) we built a rules based international order that allowed all countries to play by the same set of rules, a UN charter that everyone signed up to, a Universal Declaration of Human Rights that everybody signed up to,” she told the ABC’s 7.30 on Monday.
“That has served the world well, we should not leave it behind (and) we need to plan for the future based on those fundamental values.”
Senator Wong and Ms Sherman also discussed China’s military exercises in the Taiwan Strait in response to a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island nation last week.
The entire world is concerned by China’s actions, Ms Sherman said.
“We’re seeing (China) escalate the situation with Taiwan in just extraordinary ways … like-minded countries around the world are urging China to de-escalate,” she said.
Ms Sherman also said the historic AUKUS deal between Australia, the US and the United Kingdom was working in lockstep.
But she would not reveal whether the US government would consider leasing nuclear submarines to Australia to fill an expected defence capability gap.
“We have all kinds of processes that we need to go through and … export control regulations in our country,” she said.
“I think the vision that was outlined originally is going to be realised.”
Australia’s first submarines as part of the AUKUS deal aren’t expected to be operational until the late 2030s.
