SECRETARY POMPEO: Right, thank you.
Thank you, Foreign Minister Payne, and thank you, Minister Reynolds.
I’m honored to pay my first visit here as Secretary of State to Australia, and I’m
touched by the warm welcome.
Thank you, too, for your expression of sympathy for those who were killed in El Paso, Texas.
It’s only fitting that we just held our annual 2+2 meeting at the New South Wales
Parliament House, your very first parliament building here.
Thanks for the tour.
It was great to see another place.
Having served in Congress, to watch how you do combat politically was quite something.
It was a beautiful piece of architecture; it’s a landmark to democracy and to constitutional
government.
Prime Minister Morrison and President Trump had a great meeting last month in Osaka, and
we four have now had great conversations this morning as well.
As we discussed today and as I’ll talk about later this afternoon in my remarks, the time
is right for the United States and Australia to do much more together in the region and
beyond.
Let me be clear: The United States is a Pacific nation.
We care deeply about what happens here and we’re here to stay.
And I want all Australians to know they can always rely on the United States of America.
And just as we talk about Britain as a special relationship, we think of this as an unbreakable
relationship.
It’s grounded in our shared values of democracy, the rule of law, and human rights.
I – as Foreign Minister Payne said, I just wrapped up a series of regional meetings in
Bangkok, where ASEAN partners reaffirmed our shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific.
We’re thrilled to have Australia as a close partner in this effort.
In particular, we’re working closely to increase our engagement with partners throughout
Southeast Asia.
The United States and Australia want our friends to achieve prosperity through trade and investment,
and we’re committed to creating the conditions for that to happen responsibly.
Talking about basic things, about respect for national sovereignty, openness, transparency,
property rights, the rule of law, and a healthy respect for human rights.
Australia’s $2 billion infrastructure financing facility for the Pacific is a great step forward.
We’re not asking nations to choose between the United States and China, because that’s
not how we operate.
Cooperation with the U.S. and our Australian friends brings mutual benefits, not zero-sum
deals where one side wins and the other risks losing.
We have a proven formula for prosperity which includes property rights and the rule of law
and competition.
These qualities are on display in our bilateral relationship and our economic ties, the extent
of which is often underestimated.
The United States invests nearly $170 billion in Australia each and every year.
The United States is by far the largest investor here in Australia, accounting for more than
25 percent of all foreign direct investment.
It’s easy sometimes to forget that the amount of private investment in the Indo-Pacific
far surpasses the amount of government investment here.
Judging how private enterprise has been the engine for driving the astounding prosperity
in this region over several decades, we hope all countries will welcome more of it.
Moving beyond economics, we Pacific powers agree it’s important to shine sunlight on
bad behavior, however and whenever it occurs.
Australia courageously and independently raised the alarm about the risk of China’s 5G ambitions
even before we caught on.
We’re both concerned about China’s militarization of their man-made islands in the South China
Sea, and we’re both keeping an eye on investment that mires our friends in debt and corruption.
Our multilateral work together matters too.
Today we discussed greater cooperation with partners like Japan to help us build a network
of alliance and partners all across the region.
The United States welcomes Australia’s increased engagement with India, another democracy,
including through the Quad format, and we’ll actively explore ways our four countries can
increase cooperation.
Finally, our global cooperation has massive potential.
We hope Australia will partner with us in some of the pressing foreign policy challenges
of our time, like efforts to stabilize Syria, keep Afghanistan free of terror, and confront
the Islamic Republic of Iran’s unprovoked attacks on international shipping in the Strait
of Hormuz.
This is all very possible.
Our equal partnership has blessed the world for more than a century.
I’m confident it will continue to do so for a long time to come.
Thank you.