In off-the-cuff remarks as he greeted Australia’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, in the Oval Office, Mr Biden gave some insight into the depth of Chinese anxieties over the strength of the alliance between Canberra and Washington.“I was asked by Xi Jinping a couple of years ago why I was working so hard with your country,” Mr Biden told Mr Albanese.
Mr Albanese was greeted with full pomp and ceremony as he was welcomed to the White House, with a 21 gun salute, a full military brass band and inspection of an honour guard of dozens of American military personnel.A crowd the White House estimated at almost 4000 greeted Mr Albanese and partner Jodie Haydon on the South Lawn.
Other announcements are a $US6.2 million boost for new artificial intelligence cooperation between the US National Science Foundation and Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation . There is also an agreement to expand research and development collaboration on critical minerals that sees the CSIRO, Geoscience Australia, and the US Geological Survey lift critical minerals production and processing capabilities to support energy, manufacturing, and defence supply chains. An expansion of access to finance for Pacific Islands for governments and the private sector has also been raised.