“And this was the animating principal behind our decision to engage in what we refer to as rebalancing our interest in our allocation of resources in the world”, he said.
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Since the recent Hague ruling against their territorial claims in the South China Sea, which it promptly dismissed, China has warned Australia not to join U.S. freedom of navigation exercises near islands over which they have claimed sovereignty.
Before meeting Turnbull, Biden visited Sydney’s main naval base.
Mr Biden said the loss of his son Beau – who was 46 – had brought home the urgency of sharing as much information as possible in what can quickly become precious time.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, center, speaks to guests with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, right, Health Minister Susan Ley, left, and Professor Jim Bishop after a tour of the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centr.
China has long claimed sovereignty over the sea but the U.S. and a number of countries that border the sea challenge China’s presence there.
Although China was not mentioned, Biden specifically referred to Chinese President Xi Jinping: “I’m often asked, whether I’m with President Xi in Beijing or whether I’m in Tokyo or whether I’m anywhere in this region-we are a Pacific power”.
US Vice-President Joe Biden with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Sydney. “It has an impact in every corner of the world”.
“I just wonder if we’re going to see similar demonstrations by maybe anti-nuclear people, those who are sceptical by the United States’ role in drones and targeted killing and other controversial issues”. “We are a Pacific power, we are here to stay, and thank God we have you to lead us and to be with us”.
“Ours is a partnership that reminds us of what is best in ourselves”.
Mr Biden dismissed concerns that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump would abandon President Barack Obama’s strategy for the Asia-Pacific if he were to defeat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
“Both our nations, America and Australia continue to grapple with the legacies of racism and exclusion that shapes some of our past which still leaves behinds too many citizens. Most nations have characters strengthened by generation of courageous immigrants who arrived from somewhere else but their spirit and energy sustains and has sustained us and renewed us as nations, since our founding”, he said.
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“We bolstered our special operation forces, enhanced our cyberspace capability, invested in game changing technologies in order to maintain our qualitative edge for years to come”.
