By Elishya Perera
SYDNEY, Australia (CWBN)_ US President-elect, Joe Biden, spoke to Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, on Thursday (Nov 12), about the need to cooperate on the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and other issues, as President Donald Trump continues to refuse to concede defeat, complicating the US post-election transition.
According to a statement posted on the website of the President-elect’s transition team, Biden had expressed his commitment to strengthen relations between the two nations, noting that the United States and Australia have fought side-by-side in every conflict since World War I.
The statement further noted that the President-elect had said that he looked forward to working closely with PM Morrison “on many common challenges, including containing the COVID-19, […] confronting climate change, […] strengthening democracy, and maintaining a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region”.
Meanwhile, the Australian Prime Minister said he invited Biden to Australia next year to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the countries’ shared defense treaty. Morrison also said the parties made a clear commitment to strengthening the bilateral alliance.
“We agreed that there was no more critical time for both this alliance between ourselves and the United States, but, more broadly the working together especially of like-minded countries and values that we hold and share working together to promote peace and stability of course in the Indo-Pacific region,” Morrison told reporters.
Australia will be joining India, Japan and USA in the Malabar naval exercises off the coast of India this month, which is expected to strengthen the military relationship between the four nations concerned by the rising influence of China. Australia previously participated in the drills in 2007. However, this sparked diplomatic protests from China, and relations between the two nations have since deteriorated.
In the matter of climate change, Morrison said he spoke with Biden about emission reduction technology, although a target for zero net emissions by 2050 had not been discussed.
“I raised with the president-elect the similarity between the president-elect’s comments and policies regarding emissions reduction technologies that we needed to achieve that, and we look forward to working on those issues,” the Prime Minister said.
In addition to the Australian Prime Minister, Biden had also made phone calls to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan and President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea.
According to the statement posted on the website of the Biden’s transition team, the President-elect had discussed corporation with the two nations on the Covid-19 pandemic, and their shared commitment to tackle climate change, as well as their mutual interest in strengthening democracy.
Edited By Chathushka Perera
