Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong met her Indian and Japanese counterparts in Washington and said the invitation for "Quad" foreign ministers to attend President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration showed an "iron-clad commitment" to close cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.
Wong also met with her Japanese counterpart, Takeshi Iwaya, who is also in Washington for the inauguration, with the two agreeing to further promote Tokyo and Canberra's growing security cooperation while strengthening their mutual alliances with the United States.
Iwaya also held talks with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Washington, with the pair reaffirming the significance of the Quad, a grouping that includes Japan, Australia, India and the U.S.
At a time when China is seeking to become a regional hegemon, "Japan and Australia are required to join hands with the United States and like-minded countries to lead efforts to realize a 'Free and Open Indo-Pacific,'" Iwaya said at the outset of that meeting.
Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio appears on track for confirmation as Trump's secretary of state on Monday, clearing the way for a meeting of Quad foreign ministers the following day, people familiar with the matter previously said.
The Quad was formed amid shared concerns about China's growing power.
"It's a demonstration of the collective commitment of all countries to the Quad, an iron-clad commitment in this time where close cooperation in the Indo-Pacific is so important," Wong said Sunday of the foreign ministers' invitation to Washington.
Wong said she would also meet Rubio and other members of the Trump administration, adding the U.S. alliance was critical to Australia's defense and economic prosperity. Wong is expected to discuss the AUKUS defense technology partnership with the U.S. and Britain, a decadeslong plan to sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia.
She told reporters in Washington that Australia was "on a pathway of increasing defense expenditure."
"Our focus is very much on how do we continue to deliver on AUKUS, because we do believe that capability is so important for deterrence, which is the way in which you can secure peace," she said.
Defense Minister Richard Marles said in a radio interview Monday that AUKUS would see Australia make a significant funding contribution to the American industrial base to speed up U.S. production rates of Virginia-class submarines.
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