US-Australia talks focus on China’s ‘coercive behaviour’ and rising Middle East tensions

The annual Australia-US Ausmin talks, taking place in Annapolis, Maryland, include the top defence and diplomatic officials from both nations.

“And I know that [this] year’s Ausmin will deliver results for both of our peoples.”

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles held meetings in Washington on Monday, a day before the Ausmin talks.

Marles highlighted the expanding role of a US Marine rotational force in northern Australia and defence industry cooperation.

“We’re seeing America’s force posture in Australia grow really significantly, Aukus is part of that, but it’s not the only part of that,” Marles said in talks with Austin, according to a statement.

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US ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, told ABC Television that China and climate change – priorities for the Pacific Islands, where the US and Australia are competing with China for security ties – would be discussed.

“Obviously with China being such an important … trading partner and competitor for both of us, that is obviously one of the main topics,” she said.

“We are also talking about what we can do together to fight climate change, [and] to help the Pacific Islands to build critical infrastructure to connect them,” she added.

As part of cooperating on environmental and resource issues, Australia will spend A$200 million (US$130 million) to upgrade ground station facilities in its remote central desert to process data from Nasa’s Landsat Next satellite.

Landsat Next is an earth observation programme the US space agency says will provide early warnings on the onset of fires or ice melting. The programme is scheduled to be launched in 2030.

The US and