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Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong expressed her faith in Australian Ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd for forming an effective relationship with the Trump administration.
When she was asked if she was confident that Trump will not make any changes to the AUKUS arrangement, she said that she was pleased to hear positive comments made by nominee for Secretary of State Senator Rubio. "I was very pleased to see the very positive comments that the nominee for Secretary of State Senator Rubio made about AUKUS. I was very pleased to see them. And I have been very pleased to see over many months now the bipartisan support in the Congress for AUKUS as this is one of the ways in which partnerships and alliances can be utilised to enhance collective deterrence and collective strength. And that is so important for peace and security," she said. When asked by the media what her views were on Trump's proposal of spiking the defence budget of the NATO to 5 per cent, Wong said that they are on a pathway to increasing the defence budget, and it comes under AUKUS. Wong said that Rudd's effective working caused the AUKUS legislation to come to effect. "I think that is demonstrated, isn't it? I mean, we've seen the AUKUS legislation shepherded through. We've seen this visit organised. We've seen the invitation to the inauguration for both me and also Ambassador Rudd, and I think that speaks for itself," she said. AUKUS is the military technology partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Talking about Trump's proposal about NATO lifting defence spending to five per cent, she said that they were on a pathway of increasing the defence budget. "Look, we are on a pathway of increasing defence expenditure. That is the case. And a part of that is expenditure under the AUKUS agreement, which is a collaboration between the three countries in order to assure, amongst other things, assure stability and peace in the region, to assure deterrence and to enhance Australia's maritime capability. So, you know, we are on a trajectory which is seeing increasing defence spending. Our focus is very much on how do we continue to deliver on AUKUS, because we do believe that capability is so important for deterrence, which is the way in which you can secure peace," she said. As per ABC News, on January 16, Rubio appeared to have ended months of speculation on whether the Trump administration would back the AUKUS submarine deal, saying it will have Trump's strong support. (ANI)
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