For me to be here is a dream come true, and I suppose if one were to go up into space
today and look down at Perth, you would see a city that is sitting on a very strategic
part of our planet, Australia’s gateway to the vibrant trade and energy routes that
connect the Indian Ocean to the Pacific, the oil, the natural gas, the iron ore produced
here that flows through those trade routes to the entire world. It is no surprise that
foreign investment is soaring, including more than $100 billion from the United States,
because increasingly, these waters are at the heart of the global economy and a key
focus of America’s expanding engagement in the region, what we sometimes call our
pivot to Asia. We never actually left Asia; we’ve always been here and been a presence
here. We consider ourselves a Pacific power. But in the 21st century, it’s important
that we make absolutely clear we are here to stay. And how we think about the Asia Pacific
or the Indo Pacific region is going to be critical to our future as well as yours. We’ve
made it a strategic priority to support India’s Look East policy and to encourage Delhi to
play a larger role in Asian institutions and affairs. And it’s exciting to see the developments
as the world’s largest democracy and a dynamic emerging economy begin to contribute more
broadly to the region. It’s also important to see the burgeoning relationship between
Australia and India. And we support a Look West policy here in Australia, and certainly
applaud the Australian Government’s strategic white paper on Asian policy. We would welcome
joint Australia-Indian naval vessel exercises in the future, and we’re eager to work together
in the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation which Australia will chair in
2013 and which the United States has now joined as a dialogue partner. I’m here for what
are called the AUSMIN meetings. These are annual meetings that our Secretary of State
and Secretary of Defense hold with our counterparts, Stephen Smith and Bob Carr. We will be reviewing
implementation of the military agreements that Prime Minister Gillard and President
Obama reached last November, including the rotational deployment of U.S. marines in Darwin
and improving interoperability between our two navies. These steps will help both countries
safeguard commerce and respond to natural disasters in the sea lanes connecting the
Indian and Pacific Oceans. So here at the University of Western Australia, you are at
the leading edge of a crucial strategic shift linking two great oceans and strengthening
an historic alliance. And I hope that the work that you do here will help to light the
way just as Perth did for John Glenn 50 years ago, because when one stops to ponder it,
our commercial, cultural, and personal relationships are really at the core of how we see and hope
the world will develop in this century. Commercially, it’s already been set. We have deep and
growing ties. Culturally, we also share the values that democracies share. We share the
values of freedom and human rights, the dignity of every person. And personally, the connections
between us only grow stronger. So opening this center, and so well named the Perth USAsia
Centre, will give an additional impetus to exploring how we can broaden and deepen our
commercial, cultural, and personal relationships. It shouldn’t be any surprise that the United
States is just as interested in Australia as you seem to be interested in us. We’re
constantly following your sports. You seem to have a flood of entertainers who take the
American market by storm. The kinds of connections that we have between us are ones that we highly
value. Now of course, we’re living in a region that is changing so quickly, and there
are other countries whose interests and profiles are equally important for each of us. We look
for ways to support the peaceful rise of China, to support China becoming a responsible stakeholder
in the international community, and hope to see gradual but consistent opening up of a
Chinese society and political system that will more closely give the Chinese people
the opportunities that we in the United States and Australia are lucky to take for granted.
We have great relationships with our other friends and allies from Japan and South Korea,
Thailand, and the Philippines. Of course, we both enjoy close and growing relations
with Indonesia. So as we think about how this region will change, it’s important that
Australia and the United States work together, look to see how we can contribute to the kind
of region and world we hope to see for both of us to give our young people the opportunities
that they so richly deserve. So I thank you for your steadfast commitment to the U.S.-Australia
partnership. It is a partnership that is of itself of importance to each of us, but is
also a partnership that must remain at the core of the kind of engagement we have in
the Asia Pacific, Indo Pacific regions for now and for the future. Thank you all