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Agence France-Presse

Australia’s top diplomat said on Thursday she had a “great deal of confidence” that Donald Trump’s re-election will not sink a defence pact designed to underpin her country’s security.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong insisted the multibillion-dollar Aukus pact had bipartisan support and that both countries were eager to see a “stable” and “peaceful” Asia-Pacific region.
The 2021 pact binds the United States, Britain and Australia, facilitating the transfer of sensitive nuclear, missile and other defence technology.
“We’ve been engaging with both sides of politics in the US for a very long time about this project,” Wong told Australian media.
“We’re very pleased to see both the progress we’ve made with the support from Republicans and Democrats alike.”
Wong said in radio and television interviews on Thursday she had met with Mike Pompeo, who served as secretary of state in the previous Trump administration during the election campaign.
“The United States is our principal strategic partner. We share very, very clear strategic objectives,” she told the Today programme.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had spoken with Trump on Thursday about security ties including the Aukus deal.
Under the deal, Australia will acquire a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines and long-range missiles, a response to Chinese military ambitions in the Pacific region.
Some fear Trump could jettison or try to rewrite the pact, returning to his “America first” style of foreign policy.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned in a visit to Australia in April that Aukus raised “serious nuclear proliferation risks”, claiming it ran counter to a South Pacific treaty banning nuclear weapons in the region.


Meanwhile, Australia’s high-profile ambassador to Washington – former centre-left prime minister Kevin Rudd – has deleted a series of withering social media posts about Trump, following the Republican’s election victory.
Australia’s foreign affairs department confirmed Rudd had deleted posts on social media platform X that had described Trump as “destructive” and a “traitor to the West”.
A department official told a parliamentary hearing on Thursday that Rudd had deleted the tweets to “eliminate the possibility of such comments being misconstrued”.
“Ambassador Rudd looks forward to working with President Trump and his team to continue strengthening the US-Australia alliance,” the official said.
Trump, when asked about Rudd’s comments in a British TV interview in March, said Rudd was “not the brightest bulb” and “nasty”.
“He won’t be there long if that’s the case,” Trump said.
Wong said she backed Rudd’s ability to work with a Republican administration.
Additional reporting by Reuters


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Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the pact had bipartisan support and that both countries were eager to see a ‘stable’ Asia-Pacific region


Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the pact had bipartisan support and that both countries were eager to see a ‘stable’ Asia-Pacific region.
