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# 									Preview of Australian Prime Minister Albanese Official Visit with State Dinner to the United States							

FPC Briefing

Mira Rapp-Hooper, Senior Director for East Asia and Oceania, The White House

Tuesday, October 24, 2023, 12:15pm ET

Washington, D.C.

October 24, 2023

## 								Summary							

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President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will host Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia for an Official Visit to the United States, which will include a state dinner, on October 25, 2023. The visit will underscore the deep and enduring Alliance between the United States and Australia and the two nations’ shared commitment to supporting an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
 

**THE WASHINGTON FOREIGN PRESS CENTER, WASHINGTON, D.C.**

**MODERATOR:**  Welcome, everyone, to the Foreign Press Center.  My name is Miranda Patterson, one of the media relations officers here at the Foreign Press Center.  I am pleased to welcome Dr. Mira Rapp-Hooper here in our FPC.

The purpose of today’s briefing is to preview the official visit of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to the United States.  Dr. Mira Rapp-Hooper is special assistant to the President and senior director for East Asia and Oceania.  She is a top White House advisor responsible for the Indo-Pacific Strategy and other initiatives. 

A quick reminder of the ground rules for today.  This briefing is on the record.  After her opening remarks, Senior Director Rapp-Hooper has kindly agreed to take questions.  Please raise your hand and I will call on you.  If called for a question, please begin your question by stating your name, outlet, and country.  For journalists joining via Zoom, if you have a question, please go to the participant field and virtually raise your hand.  We will call on you and you can unmute yourself and, if you like, turn on your video to ask your question.  You can also submit questions in the chat box.  If you have not already done so, please take this time now to rename your Zoom profile with your full name and the name of your media outlet. 

This briefing will end promptly at 1:00 p.m.  We will post a video and the transcript of this briefing afterwards on our website, which is fpc.state.gov.  

And with that, I’m going to turn this briefing over to Senior Director Rapp-Hooper. 

**MS RAPP-HOOPER:**  Thanks very much, Miranda, and thanks to you all for being here with us this afternoon.  It’s great to have the opportunity to preview Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to the White House. 

As you know, the President and First Lady look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Ms. Jodie Haydon to the White House tomorrow for an official visit and state dinner to celebrate the ever-expanding alliance between the United States and Australia.  This will be the fourth foreign leader visit with a state dinner during the Biden administration, and the ninth meeting between President Biden and Prime Minister Albanese since Prime Minister Albanese took office just about a year and a half ago. 

Since the beginning of the Biden-Harris administration, we have focused on strengthening our relationships with allies and partners globally, and especially in the Indo-Pacific.  Australia is one of our oldest and closest allies in the region, and our two countries have stood side by side for more than 100 years.  This state visit is a celebration of our partnership throughout the past century, and it’s a commitment to facing the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century together.  We have a rich shared history on the battlefield in defense of democracy, human rights, and rule of law.  

With this visit, the United States and Australia are strengthening our alliance to deliver for the Indo-Pacific in new and innovative ways.  I’d like to start by highlighting a few key moments that we expect to happen this week, or a few key moments in some cases that have already happened. 

As you may know, the prime minister and Ms. Haydon arrived in D.C. on Sunday evening.  On Monday the prime minister laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.  The prime minister then visited Microsoft, where the company announced an unprecedented $3 billion artificial intelligence and cyber security partnership with Australia.  And yesterday our two governments jointly launched the critical minerals task force at the White House to discuss bilateral cooperation to deliver sustainable, resilient, and secure critical minerals and clean energy supply chains to our two nations.

Early this evening the prime minister will participate in an opening ceremony for the newly renovated Embassy of Australia.  And tomorrow morning the official program kicks off with President Biden officially welcoming Prime Minister Albanese with an official arrival ceremony with full honors, followed by a bilateral meeting, press conference, and state dinner.  The prime minister will close out his visit to Washington with a state luncheon on Thursday hosted by the Vice President and the Secretary of State. 

We believe this visit is an apt celebration of the U.S.-Australia alliance – past, present, and future – and is especially important given the difficult moment that we are all living through internationally today.  Australia has been and continues to be a fundamental partner in achieving our shared vision of prosperity and stability around the world, and we have stood side by side in every conflict for the past hundred years.  That remains especially important today in a moment of grave crisis. 

As likeminded democratic allies, the United States and Australia stand united in our condemnation of the attacks by Hamas, and in our commitment to returning peace and stability to Gaza and Israel, and to providing urgently needed humanitarian aid to those who need it.  Alongside his steady leadership in the wake of Hamas’s horrific attacks on Israel and continued commitment to Ukraine, the President remains focused on the long-term stakes in the Indo-Pacific.  Working closely with allies like Australia ensures that we can tackle these critical issues at once, managing the immediate challenges before us while also staying focused on the future. 

I’d now like to take a moment more just to highlight some of the key initiatives that we expect to announce tomorrow.  Innovation will serve as the guiding principle as our two countries embark on a new phase of our bilateral relationship.  Tomorrow the two leaders will discuss and announce significant deliverables, including in some of the following areas.  

First we’ll have several announcements related to new technology cooperation, particularly on artificial intelligence, and highlighting new cooperation on space issues.  Second, we will have announcements related to clean energy and the building of resilient, sustainable, and secure critical minerals supply chains, building on an important new compact that our leaders announced in May, and with the launch of our critical minerals task force that has taken place over the course of the visit thus far.

Tackling the climate crisis, including by mobilizing funding for businesses across the region, remains a priority for both of our leaders.  We’ll also talk about how we’re advancing connectivity across the Pacific through major new investments in undersea cable infrastructure and in maritime infrastructure. 

President Biden and Prime Minister Albanese will discuss how they can enhance defense cooperation, including trilaterally with Japan, and to fully implement the AUKUS partnership.  They’ll touch on our deepening closer people-to-people ties, including between our indigenous communities.  And while I don’t want to get ahead of the important concrete initiatives they will be announcing from the White House tomorrow, I do want to say that we have a full slate of activities that span the broad range of the U.S.-Australia alliance that we look forward to being able to announce tomorrow. 

I’ll conclude today just by reiterating that the state visit will reflect our deeply intertwined histories and celebrates our ambitious shared vision of innovation for the future.  And I look forward to your questions. 

**MODERATOR:**  Thank you very much.  We’ll take questions now.  As a reminder, please project, state your name and outlet.  Yes.  

**QUESTION:**  Thank you very much for doing the briefing.  Robert Delaney from South China Morning Post, Hong Kong.  So recently we’ve heard several officials from the Pentagon talking about how communication has broken down with China, and sort of in the absence of that discussion between military-to-military dialogue, the U.S., the Pentagon, has been reaching out to its allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific.  Australia comes up quite often in these discussions, and what we’re hearing is that the Pentagon is sharing a lot of information about what they’re learning from operations by the PLA in the Indo-Pacific. 

So can you talk to us about to what extent will military cooperation with respect to the operations by the PLA in the South China Sea and East China Sea, and more broadly in the Indo-Pacific or Western Pacific – how much is this going to figure into the discussions between the two leaders?  Thank you.  

**MS RAPP-HOOPER:**  Sure.  I can say that every time President Biden and Prime Minister Albanese get together, they do discuss their broad agenda, including defense and security cooperation, for maintaining and upholding peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, and of course that includes in the East China Sea and South China Sea, where both of our countries have longstanding and stated interests in ensuring that peace and stability; and in the South China Sea both have long held commonly-articulated positions on their support for international law, freedom of navigation, and in particular the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.  

I have no doubt that the leaders will go deeper to talk about what is necessary to uphold peace and stability in the South China Sea, but I don’t want to get ahead of their conversations. 

**MODERATOR:**  Okay, thank you.  We’ll take this question in the front before going online.  

**QUESTION:**  Thank you.  Ken Moriyasu from Nikkei Asia.  You talked about defense cooperation.  Two aspects of what you said.  Could you go a little bit deeper into the trilateral cooperation with Japan?  And also, regarding AUKUS – AUKUS kicks off at a time when U.S. shipyards have little capacity and there’s bottlenecks in the maintenance.  What kind of discussions will take place on producing submarines?  

**MS RAPP-HOOPER:**  Thank you.  Again, I can’t get ahead of our important announcements tomorrow, so I’ll be relatively shorter on the particulars.  But I will say that the United States and Australia, of course, have made strides in our trilateral cooperation with Japan, and we are excited to announce some concrete new initiatives tomorrow.  That, of course, builds on a long history of trilateral cooperation with Japan and strong trilateral – or rather bilateral cooperation with each one of our countries in areas ranging from reciprocal access to defense exercises to information sharing. 

So we’ll have more to say tomorrow, but suffice it to say that we remain very energized by the great cooperation that’s going on amongst Washington, Tokyo, and Canberra.  

On the question of AUKUS and the preparedness of the submarine industrial base, of course the United States and Australia are keenly focused on the fact that AUKUS is a long-term initiative where we’re going to have to make significant investments on both sides of the Pacific and in the UK in our industrial bases and in our preparedness to contribute to this groundbreaking initiative.  

I do want to point to the fact that just last week, when the President submitted his emergency supplemental proposal to Congress, he included over $3 billion of submarine industrial base support in that package, which is intended to boost exactly the industrial base that we are talking about.  This follows on a very generous contribution to our submarine industrial base by our Australian allies, who are making concrete investments in the United States’ ability to produce submarines as part of the AUKUS partnership.  

**MODERATOR:**  Okay, let’s go to our Zoom participants.  Farrah, can you please unmute yourself? 

**QUESTION:**  Yeah, can you hear me?  

**MODERATOR:**  Yes. 

**QUESTION:**  Great.  Thank you for doing this.  You talked about the unity our nations share regarding the situation in the Middle East.  Are you concerned that China will seek to exploit the situation in the Middle East to make further advances in the Indo-Pacific?  And in relation to AUKUS, Congress is obviously in disarray and there’s still a lot of work to do to get some of the AUKUS-enabling legislation through.  Realistically, from your perspective, what is the earliest that we can see some of that enabling legislation get through the Congress? 

**MS RAPP-HOOPER:**  Thank you.  There is no question, as you say, that both President Biden and Prime Minister Albanese are very focused on the situation in the Middle East, intently so.  But I think that an important piece of this visit is demonstrating to both our publics, and indeed the world, all international audiences, that both of them also remain laser-focused on the Indo-Pacific; and that in particular, by working together, it is possible for these leaders to do both things at once – to make sure that we are taking all necessary steps to uphold peace, stability, and prosperity in that critical region even as we are focused on the conflict in the Middle East.

So this visit, importantly, will be an opportunity for President Biden to engage with Prime Minister Albanese not just on the Middle East or on Ukraine, where Australia has been the largest non-NATO provider of military aid in a really significant set of contributions, but of course to discuss and move the ball forward on a wide range of Indo-Pacific areas of interest and initiatives, whether that’s in the Pacific Islands, in the South China Sea, or beyond.  

So from our perspective, this is a really important moment to show the world that despite the fact that there are significant conflicts still in Europe and in the Middle East, the President and his closest friends around the world are committed to the work they have on their plates in the Indo-Pacific as well.  

When it comes to the role of Congress in passing enabling legislation, of course we remain hopeful and enthusiastic that Congress move at the quickest possible pace.  As you noted, there are at least three key initiatives that now sit with the Hill.  That includes ship transfer legislation, it includes export control streamlining legislation, and now it includes the supplementary budget request to include that submarine industrial base support.

So I won’t opine on the timeline along which I expect Congress to move.  I don’t claim to have that knowledge.  But I do expect that Prime Minister Albanese and the President will discuss what they can do to further engage Capitol Hill to ensure that these critical pieces of legislation move forward expeditiously.

**MODERATOR:**  Yes, we’ll go here to Anneliese.  Please state your name again and your outlet.

**QUESTION:**  Annaliese Nielsen, Sky News Australia.  When it comes to the export controls, so the Australian side’s announced that we’re going to relax those restrictions so we can start participating – we’re waiting on U.S. Congress.  The U.S. Government was able to fast-track those same export control relaxations for Ukraine in a matter of days.  Could we look at doing something similar for Australia, or is this just going to be a wait and see until Congress can do it?

**MS RAPP-HOOPER:**  I’ll say let’s let the leaders have their conversation tomorrow.  And I don’t have much further for you on that at this time.

**MODERATOR:**  Sorry, we’ll go in the back to Jade.  

**QUESTION:**  Jade Macmillan, Australian Broadcasting Corporation.  Just looking ahead to the state dinner tomorrow night, have arrangements been changed in any way given the situation in the Middle East?  And secondly, will the two leaders specifically discuss the prime minister’s upcoming trip to China?  And if so, what would the message be from the President on that?

**MS RAPP-HOOPER:**  Thank you.  On the question of state dinner arrangements, I’ll leave that up to my colleagues in the East Wing to opine on further – Dr. Biden and her office have primary responsibility for the state dinner.  But suffice it to say the event will meet the moment.  But on the question of prospective travel to China, I do expect the leaders will talk about any planned engagements with the PRC.  They do typically touch base every time they meet on the role that China is playing in the region – and compare notes on diplomacy.  So I expect that this time will be no different.  

Across all manner of issues, we typically are deeply aligned with Australian friends.  And again, expect that will be the case here.

**MODERATOR:**  Leah?

**QUESTION:**  Hi, I’m Leah Griffith with the Asahi Shimbun, Japanese paper.  My question is:  Do you expect discussions on the further cooperation with the Quad?

**MS RAPP-HOOPER:**  We always have discussions on further cooperation of the Quad when any number of Quad leaders get together.  It is a point of great pride for each of our leaders in the United States, Australia, India, and Japan.  Of course, Prime Minister Albanese has himself been a tremendous leader in the Quad.  You may recall that, when he surged to victory in his own electoral contest about a year and a half ago, he mentioned the Quad in his victory speech.  He then actually reordered inaugural procedure to be sworn in within 24 hours so that he could board a plane to Tokyo to attend the Quad summit that took place there, and was also our host for the Quad summit in Hiroshima that took place in May.

So I have no doubt that we will discuss both President Biden and Prime Minister Albanese’s continued vision for the Quad.  Typically when Quad leaders meet, they check in on the ongoing programs of work, they set their sights higher for what we might like to do to cooperate together in the future, and they reiterate their intent that the Quad above all else should be a partnership that delivers meaningfully for the Indo-Pacific – which of course is a mission that the U.S. and Australia, as well as all the Quad partners, are fundamentally committed to.

**MODERATOR:**  Yes, we’ll go to you here in the back.

**QUESTION:**  Yes.  My name is Hiroo Watanabe, Sankei Shimbun.  Could you elaborate on, a little bit, Critical Minerals Task Force, of its initiative?  Is this a bilateral base, or other allies like Japan or South Korea can be involved?  Because we are – the Asian countries are facing that common challenge, China dominating production (inaudible).  Yeah.

**MS RAPP-HOOPER:**  Yeah, thank you for the question.  The initiative at this point remains bilateral.  It was launched on a bilateral basis in May when, again, our leaders agreed to an important new compact.  And the official task force was just launched yesterday by our governments, and today to include the private sector.  The objective of the Critical Minerals Task Force is to deepen our cooperation to deliver sustainable, resilient, and secure critical minerals and clean energy supply chains to the world, and to reduce global emissions.  

And specifically, part of what we’re interested in working on together is better facilitating cooperation between private sectors and governments to ensure that promising investments are making their way to promising projects in both of our countries.  The Critical Minerals Task Force that was launched this morning included an opening set of very compelling remarks by Prime Minister Albanese himself, and it was then co-chaired by Madeleine King – Minister King – from Australia, and Secretary Gina Raimondo, our Secretary of Commerce.

So we do have quite a lot of energy behind this initiative.  Certainly the important work that we are doing is applicable beyond the bilateral relationship.  It’s a key instance of what many of us like to call friend-shoring – or perhaps in the U.S.-Australia alliance, mate-shoring – where we do our best to ensure that these critical supply chains are supported as best they can amongst likeminded countries.

**QUESTION:**  Thank you.

**MODERATOR:**  Okay, we’ll go back to Jade.

**QUESTION:**  Jade Macmillan, Australian ABC.  The Australian Government has announced that it won’t be canceling a Chinese company’s 99-year lease for the Port of Darwin.  What is the administration’s view on that, and will that be a topic of conversation between the two leaders?

**MS RAPP-HOOPER:**  I don’t have anything for you at this time on an administration position on the Port of Darwin announcement, and can’t get ahead of what our leaders may say tomorrow.

**MODERATOR:**Yes, go ahead.  

**QUESTION:**May I do a follow-up on the critical minerals agreements?  I just – I mean, I understand you’re bringing senior high-level officials like Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to this, but I mean, mining really involves companies, generally private companies.  So will we see any company participation in the events that are scheduled for the next few days?

**MS RAPP-HOOPER:**There was significant private-sector participation in the critical minerals roundtable that was held at the Australian embassy this morning.  

**QUESTION:**Gotcha.  Thanks.

**MODERATOR:**And we did have another question submitted online from a journalist in Malaysia, Manik Mehta, who asked about future expansion of the Quad and if that’s in the discussions at all.

**MS RAPP-HOOPER:**Is the participant with us at the moment?  

**MODERATOR:**They are not.  

**MS RAPP-HOOPER:**Okay.  So there are two ways to interpret the question.  One would be expansion of membership; another would be expansion of projects or objectives.  On the question of expansion of membership, that is unlikely, at least at this time.  The Quad leaders have agreed that they will remain a Quad for the foreseeable future, and that is because they feel, we feel we have important work cut out for us to perfect our model and show that we can really deliver for the Indo-Pacific.  

It’s a mission that all four countries share deeply, and every time our leaders meet we get a little bit better at our ability to provide practical solutions for Indo-Pacific partners in areas that they care about, whether that’s on infrastructure, new critical and emerging technology solutions like the Open RAN network that we’re providing in Palau, or maritime security where we are providing new maritime domain awareness technology to Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and South Asia.  

But the Quad leaders are also very interested in engaging other Indo-Pacific partners.  They’ve signaled on multiple occasions a strong interest in engaging deeply with and having a really productive relationship with ASEAN countries, who Quad leaders see as a natural partner.  And the Quad, of course, respects and is intended to reinforce ASEAN centrality.  There’s also a strong desire to engage in much closer cooperation with Pacific Island leaders.  

But when it comes to the question expansion of Quad initiatives, perhaps, I think there’s always room to grow.  Again, what we see every time the leaders meet is that they’re focused on trying to deliver practical projects that will make a difference in the lives of Indo-Pacific partners and demonstrate that this group of like-minded democracies really can deliver high-standard solutions.  So just the way that the Quad started out with its vaccine initiative, moved on to launch a Quad fellowship, and then moved into the maritime domain awareness space, I think we will continue to see the Quad innovate in its agenda every place there is an opportunity to show up for partners in the region.

**MODERATOR:**Thank you.  Okay, we’ll go back briefly to Farrah with the Sydney Morning Herald.  Please unmute yourself online.

**QUESTION:**Hi there.  I just want to clarify – you mentioned the $3.4 billion funding request that the White House sent to Congress last week to build up the U.S. industrial Navy base, which of course could help us in our prospects with AUKUS.  Is that funding tied up with the broader funding request for Israel and Ukraine and therefore must be passed as a package? And the reason I ask that, obviously, is because there’s some resistance to continuing to fund Ukraine with some members of Congress.  And does that therefore put the 3.4 billion in jeopardy if it does not pass as a whole?

**MS RAPP-HOOPER:**The supplementary budget request is a request in its entirety.  We are hopeful that this piece will move forward and that the submarine industrial base request will help us make the case for why the entire package is so important, in no small part because, as you know, there has been a lot of advocacy, a lot of interest on both sides of the aisle in Congress to ensure that the U.S. submarine industrial base is properly supported.  So it is part of a broader package, but again, we think that when it comes to our submarine industrial base, the strategic case for why this funding is important is clear, is understood on a bipartisan basis, and helps to make a holistic case for why emergency funding is needed to support the United States and our allies and partners in three critical regions.

**MODERATOR:**Did you have a — 

**QUESTION:**Yeah, sorry.  Nikkei – Ken Moriyasu from Nikkei again.  Do you have any comments on the sacking of the Chinese defense minister, whether this came as a surprise to the White House? 

**MS RAPP-HOOPER:**I will leave any comments on PRC Government personnel to the PRC Government.

**QUESTION:**Sorry, Anneliese from Sky News again.  Are you expecting any discussion about – there’s been a lot of reporting around Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt and his dealings with Donald Trump, about whether that’s going to impact any national security concerns during the discussions.  

**MS RAPP-HOOPER:**I don’t have reason to believe that it will impact our leaders’ conversations.

**MODERATOR:**If we have any additional questions in the room or online – okay, I will leave it — 

**QUESTION:**Sorry, just one question.  Robert from South China Morning Post.  Regarding the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing that starts next week, will there be any discussions between the prime minister and President Biden about Australia’s participation in the forum, or anything about the objectives that Australia’s participation may have?  

**MS RAPP-HOOPER:**  I’m not tracking that as part of the conversation necessarily at this time, but of course, if Australian friends raise it, the President will be ready to discuss.

**QUESTION:**  Thank you.

**MODERATOR:**  Senior Director, do you have anything you’d like to conclude on?  I think we’re done with questions.

**MS RAPP-HOOPER:**  Great.  I’ll simply wrap up by thanking you all for being here today.  Again, we’re conscious of the fact that this is a very grave moment of crisis in the Middle East, but do think that, as the President is laser-focused on that challenge, it is important to demonstrate – and indeed, this visit is demonstrating – the importance of the Indo-Pacific and the ability of the United States, alongside its closest allies, to maintain focuses in multiple critical regions at once.  

That is, in fact, the entire theory of the case of the investments that President Biden has made in our closest allies and partners.  By sharing responsibility, by aligning our strategies, by aligning our policies, we can do more together.  So that’s exactly what the President and Prime Minister Albanese will be doing tomorrow.

**MODERATOR:**  Thank you, and this concludes our briefing.  I want to give a special thanks to our briefer, Senior Director Rapp-Hooper, for sharing her time with us today, and to those who participated.  You can find the transcripts online at fpc.state.gov.  Thank you. 

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