Albanese’s goal on US trip is to get AUKUS back on track
On his visit to Washington DC, Anthony Albanese will find a United States president focused on Israel and Ukraine, rather than China and the AUKUS defence pact.
When Joe Biden invited Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for a state visit to Washington DC, the consensus behind the scenes in Canberra was that it would be a lot of pomp and ceremony, but not much substance.
The US President, at least in part, was making up for the fact he had to cancel his planned trip to Sydney for a meeting of the Quad grouping in May. There was no pressing need for the visit.
But suddenly, the trip will have a lot of substance.
Not only is Israel’s ground invasion of the Gaza strip imminent and the threat of a full-scale war in the Middle East heating up with the potential involvement of Lebanon and Iran, but there is a pressing need to resuscitate the AUKUS defence agreement and establish a climate and clean energy pact.
On Thursday night, Biden sought to link the Hamas attack on Israel to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a public call for the US Congress to approve more than $US98 billion in emergency funding for Israel and Ukraine.
