Advancing Prosperity and Security in the Indo-Pacific

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recently hosted Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defense Richard Marles. The Secretaries and Ministers committed to a range of new initiatives to advance the safety, security, and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region.

Australia and the United States are innovating how they deliver assistance and are enhancing coordination on strategic critical infrastructure investments in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. In particular, Australia committed to working with the United States, the Philippines, and Japan to advance the development of the Luzon Economic Corridor – a plan that is intended to spur economic partnerships among these countries and offer an alternative to China’s predatory Belt and Road initiative. Indeed, the Luzon Corridor will accelerate coordinated investments in high-impact infrastructure projects such as rail, telecommunications, and port modernization.

President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at their meeting in October agreed to move “full steam ahead” on AUKUS, a trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. AUKUS is intended to "promote a free and open Indo-Pacific that is secure and stable.” In support of this, Secretary Hegseth noted the work underway to develop an enhanced trilateral submarine industrial base. He applauded Australia’s upcoming delivering of an additional one billion dollars to help expand U.S. submarine production capacity. This brings Australia’s contribution to this effort to $2 billion so far.

With regard to defense posture, said Secretary Hegseth, “we’re upgrading the infrastructure on airbases in Queensland and the Northern Territory. That allows for additional U.S. bomber rotations. We’re upgrading logistics and infrastructure in Darwin so more U.S. Marines can do rotational deployments and pre-positioning MV-22 Ospreys. This establishes new and resilient logistics networks across Australia.”

The U.S. and Australia are also deepening their cooperation on guided weapons production and lethal capabilities.

In October, President Trump and Prime Minister Albanese signed a critical minerals agreement. “Critical minerals and rare earths are a huge part of ensuring both countries can operate the way we need to in that region and around the world,” stressed Secretary Hegseth.

These are practical ways that the U.S. and Australia can come together to ensure peace through strength for both nations, said Secretary Hegseth. “The stronger we are together the more we can deter the kinds of conflicts neither of us want to see.”