Vol. 77/No. 6      February 18, 2013

British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Defence Minister Philip Hammond and their Australian counterparts, Foreign Minister Robert Carr and Defence Minister Stephen Smith, headed the delegations. A similar bilateral summit between the U.S. and Australian governments took place two months ago.

In the lead up to the summit, Hammond laid out the concerns that have led the British and Australian governments to align with Washington’s “strategic pivot” toward Asia, saying Washington was “the only power on Earth that is capable of rising to the challenge of growing Chinese ambition.”

During World War II, the rulers of Australia switched their main alliance from London to Washington. For the first time since the end of the war, the U.S. military’s dominance of the Pacific is being challenged by Beijing’s growing military capabilities.

The two parties discussed the withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan over the next two years. Washington, London and Canberra are planning to leave a limited number of troops, particularly special commando forces, beyond 2014.

The talks ended with the signing of a new military pact that included plans to increase interoperability and share development costs for “global platform” armaments, such as a new British frigate and Australian submarine.

Before arriving in Australia, Hague was in New Zealand where he met with Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully to discuss cyberwarfare cooperation and other issues.

Two months ago, British and Australian military forces joined the New Zealand armed forces in an exercise near Auckland, New Zealand, geared toward developing an amphibious force for beach landings.  

 
 
Related articles:
Tokyo steps up use of military, strengthens US, other alliances
Imperialists ‘pivot’ to counter China, isolate N. Korea
Washington, UN Security Council tighten sanctions on North Korea
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home