The United States Studies Centre and Asia Society Australia co-hosted a panel discussion on America’s Indo-Pacific strategy under President Joe Biden. The Indo-Pacific is the new global centre of strategic rivalry. President Biden has sought to shore up alliances in the region and ease strained relationships caused by his predecessor. His administration has doubled down on regional partnerships such as the Quad to counter China’s growing assertiveness. The announcement of the AUKUS partnership with Australia and the United Kingdom also suggests a new urgency of purpose in the Indo-Pacific. Even so, questions remain, especially about the ability of the United States to compete effectively in Southeast Asia and to craft an economic strategy for the region following its 2017 withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. What is America’s strategy in the Indo-Pacific under President Biden? Can the United States compete effectively with China and can that competition be contained to avoid conflict? What are the implications of the US approach to the Indo-Pacific for Australia's interests? How much should values drive competition with China? Where does Southeast Asia fit in US plans, and can the United States craft an economic strategy in the region? In the leadup to the region’s “summit season”, the USSC and Asia Society hosted a discussion on these issues featuring Richard Maude, Executive Director of Policy at Asia Society Australia, Ashley Townshend, Director of Foreign Policy and Defence at the United States Studies Centre, Susannah Patton, Research Fellow in the Foreign Policy and Defence Program at the United States Studies Centre, and Elina Noor, Director of Political-Security Affairs and Deputy Director, Washington DC Office at the Asia Society Policy Institute. This event will be moderated by Emma Connors, South-east Asia correspondent for the Australian Financial Review.

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Biden's Indo-Pacific strategy: The state of play

Policy issues at the intersection of international security and international economics loom increasingly large for Australian and US policymakers. The alliance’s shift from economic engagement to rivalry towards China has reframed international and domestic economic policy settings in light of the security concerns presented by China’s growing power and influence. Unprecedented attention now turns toward geoeconomic statecraft, the use of economic policy instruments to further geopolitical, foreign policy and security objectives. How concerned are Australian policymakers and how concerned should they be? What are the limits of China’s economic statecraft and could it backfire? How should the United States and Australia respond? To discuss these issues, the United States Studies Centre hosted a webinar to launch a report from the Centre's International Economy Program: A geoeconomic alliance: The potential and limits of economic statecraft featuring report author Dr Stephen Kirchner, USSC Director of International Economy; Christine McDaniel, Senior Research Fellow at Mercatus Center and Dr Ben Herscovitch, Research Fellow at Australian National University in conversation with USSC Research Fellow of Foreign Policy and Defence Susannah Patton.

A geoeconomic alliance: The potential and limits of economic statecraft

Amid sharpening strategic competition with China in the Indo-Pacific, the Biden administration has proposed the concept of ‘integrated deterrence’ as a cornerstone for US defence strategy. By collaborating more closely with US allies and partners, and by more effectively combining military and non-military instruments of national power, Washington hopes this new approach will deter Beijing’s use of coercion across a wide spectrum of competition. But what exactly does ‘integrated deterrence’ mean? Is it really new? How does it intersect with ongoing efforts to increase interoperability among US allies and partners? And what role is there for the Australia-US alliance to bring integrated deterrence into being in the Indo-Pacific? To discuss these issues, the United States Studies Centre (USSC) and Pacific Forum hosted the launch of “Integrated deterrence in the Indo-Pacific: Advancing the Australia-United States alliance", a new policy brief by Jane Hardy, Visiting Senior Fellow with the USSC and a former Australian Consul-General in Hawaii. Joining her for this in-conversation webinar was Ashley Townshend, Director of Foreign Policy and Defence at USSC, and David Santoro, President of Pacific Forum, both founding convenors and co-chairs of the Track 1.5 US-Australia Indo-Pacific Deterrence Dialogue. This activity was supported by the Australian Government through a grant by the Australian Department of Defence. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Australian government or the Australian Department of Defence.

Integrated deterrence in the Indo-Pacific: Advancing the Australia-United States alliance

During the 2020 presidential campaign, then-candidate Joe Biden famously predicted that a loss by President Trump in the November 2020 election would force Republicans to have an “epiphany” and turn away from Trump. This prediction was not dissimilar from President Obama’s comments during the 2012 presidential election, in which Obama predicted “I believe that if we’re successful in this election, when we’re successful in this election, that the fever may break…because there’s a tradition in the Republican Party of more common sense than that.” But has the Democrat-projected epiphany occurred? Can Biden’s track record for bipartisanship change the course of polarisation? Can one of the most experienced presidents in US history buck historical trends and bring about an era of bipartisanship? What are the implications for Australia if US political divide worsens? To discuss these issues, the United States Studies Centre hosted a webinar featuring Sarah Binder and Thomas Mann, Senior Fellows in Governance Studies at The Brookings Institution in conversation with USSC Non-Resident Senior Fellow Bruce Wolpe.

The future of US politics: A conversation with The Brookings Institution's Sarah Binder and Thomas Mann

Recent years have seen the unravelling of some of the landmark arms control treaties, compounded with growing strategic competition between major powers and increases in military spending. This inevitably places arms control high on the agenda, including in the framework of NATO 2030. In 2019, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said “arms control is in NATO’s DNA”. This talk discussed NATO’s approach to arms control, disarmament, and non-proliferation and the role for arms control in NATO’s next Strategic Concept. It also addressed partnership goals related to Australia in the context of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation. Special guest for the webinar was NATO’s Acting Director of the Arms Control, Disarmament, and WMD Non-Proliferation Centre Ms Eirini Lemos-Maniati. She spoke with United States Studies Centre's Lecturer in US Politics and Foreign Policy Dr Gorana Grgic. Jointly presented by the USSC and NATO Public Diplomacy Division, this event was the latest in a series of talks with USSC and NATO experts in which they explore the challenges ahead of NATO and Australia and propose areas where furthering and deepening cooperation can offer solutions.

NATO Expert Talk Series: NATO's arms-control agenda

The United States Studies Centre hosted a virtual address and in-conversation event with Senator the Hon Penny Wong to launch the United States Studies Centre report “Correcting the course: How the Biden administration should compete for influence in the Indo-Pacific.” Senator Wong delivered her remarks on “Australia's contribution to American engagement in the Indo-Pacific” in the wake of this month’s announcement of the AUKUS pact, the 70th anniversary of the ANZUS Treaty and the Australia-US Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) in Washington DC. She then joined report co-authors Susannah Patton and Ashley Townshend for a discussion on the United States’ role in the Indo-Pacific region and the way forward for Australian policy. Senator the Hon Penny Wong is Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs. Senator Wong was elected to the Senate in 2001 and took her seat in 2002. In 2004, Senator Wong was elected to the Shadow Ministry. Following the election of the Labor Government in 2007, she was appointed the Minister for Climate Change and Water. After the 2010 election, she was appointed the Minister for Finance and Deregulation. In 2013, Senator Wong was appointed Leader of the Government in the Senate. After the change of government, she was appointed the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate. Senator Wong is the first woman to hold both these roles.

An address by Senator the Hon Penny Wong to launch USSC report "Correcting the course"

The next Australia-United States Ministerial Consultation (AUSMIN) will take place later this month amidst sharpening strategic competition with China and rising concerns about the direction of Biden’s Indo-Pacific strategy. This meeting between foreign and defence ministers is a critical opportunity for the Australia-US alliance to embark on more ambitious efforts to uphold a stable, open and prosperous regional order. Competing for influence within the Indo-Pacific should be at the top of the agenda for this year’s AUSMIN. How can Australia and the US expand regional military posture and deterrence initiatives? What should be done to deepen engagement and partnerships with Southeast Asia? And how might Canberra and Washington work better together to counter economic coercion and pursue new technology partnerships? To discuss these issues, the USSC hosted a webinar featuring Non-Resident Fellow Jennifer Jackett, Director of Trade and Investment Stephen Kirchner, Research Fellow Susannah Patton and Director of Foreign Policy and Defence Ashley Townshend, moderated by CEO Simon Jackman.

Previewing the Biden administration's first AUSMIN meeting

This year marks 20 years since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States, the precursor to US-led military operations in Afghanistan, joined by Australia. For the two decades, counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency in theatres far from both the US and Australian mainlands was the dominant, operational focus of the Australia-US alliance. Now both Australia and the United States look to focus the Alliance much closer to Australia, the Australia-US alliance a key element in a network of allies and partners working on a wide array of challenges in the Indo-Pacific. What lessons should both countries take from the twenty years since 9/11 for this next phase of the Australia-US alliance? To explore these questions, the United States Studies Centre hosted USSC Non-Resident Senior Fellow Duncan Lewis AO, DSC, CSC and General David H. Petraeus (US Army, Retired). Both held senior leadership roles in uniform and in civilian life during the post-9/11 conflicts and are uniquely well placed to discuss this topic. Moderating the conversation was USSC Visiting Senior Fellow Jane Hardy, whose most recent posting was as the most senior Australian civilian representative at INDOPACOM in Honolulu. Duncan Lewis rose to the rank of Major General in the Australian Army and was appointed the inaugural commander of Australian Special Operations in January 2001. In civilian life, Lewis served as National Security Adviser in the Rudd government (2008-2011), Secretary of the Department of Defence (2011-2012) and Director-General of Security (2014-2019) under Coalition governments. He joined the United States Studies Centre as Non-Resident Fellow earlier this year. David Petraeus served in the US Army for 37 years, with leadership roles including serving as commanding general, Multi-National Force - Iraq (2007-2008), US Central Command (2008-2010) and commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan from 2010-11. He served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (2011-12) during the presidency of Barack Obama. In 2009, Petraeus was awarded an honorary Order of Australia.

Twenty years since 9/11 with Major General Duncan Lewis and General David Petraeus

As Australia and the United States commemorate the 70th anniversary of their alliance, the alliance agenda is burgeoning, matching the pace and breath of geostrategic change in the Indo-Pacific, accompanied by constant innovation in ways nation states project power and influence. China’s economic coercion of Australia is a telling case in point, figuring prominently in recent remarks from US senior officials. But where and how does geoeconomic competition fit in the Australia-US alliance agenda? What should a framework for a geoeconomic alliance cooperation encompass? What does an Australia-US alliance with a geoeconomic agenda look like, institutionally and operationally? The USSC hosted a discussion with the authors of Trust and diversify: A geoeconomic strategy for the Australia-US alliance, a new United States Studies Centre (USSC) report launched on 2 September. The report’s co-authors – American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Zack Cooper, Australian National University Senior Lecturer Darren Lim and former Center for a New American Security researcher Ashley Feng – engaged in a discussion moderated by Perth USAsia Centre Research Director Jeffrey Wilson.

Trust and diversify: A geoeconomic strategy for the Australia-US alliance

September 1, 2021 marks 70 years since the ANZUS Treaty was signed in San Francisco in 1951, the first major international treaty Australia entered independent of the British government. Today, the alliance between Australia and the United States — and the deep, long-standing channels of trust and cooperation it has fostered — is being tasked with more issues and with more urgency than at any point in its 70-year history. Both John Howard and Julia Gillard presided over critical phases of change in the Alliance, around 9/11 and its aftermath for Howard and the Obama administration’s “pivot to Asia” for Gillard. How did each leader view the Alliance given the geo-strategic and security challenges they faced? How can their experiences of “Alliance evolution” inform the policy choices we face today? The United States Studies Centre hosted a special event featuring a discussion between former Prime Ministers Julia Gillard AC and John Howard OM AC moderated by Dennis Richardson AC who previously served as Secretary to the Department of Defence, Secretary to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Ambassador to the United States. Prime Minister Scott Morrison MP, Leader of the Opposition Anthony Albanese MP and Premier of New South Wales Gladys Berejiklian MP also provided remarks. Video of this event is available at https://www.youtube.com/user/usstudiescentre

The Alliance 70th anniversary with distinguished guests former Prime Ministers Julia Gillard and John Howard

As a refugee from South Vietnam when he was four years old Professor Viet Thanh Nguyen’s work explores the convergence between politics and literature. The Sympathizer, his thriller about a communist double-agent won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2016. The United States Studies Centre was honoured to have Professor Nguyen deliver the first-ever American Cultures Lecture. The lecture by Aerol Arnold Chair of English at the University of Southern California Professor Viet Thanh Nguyen was followed by a conversation moderated by USSC Associate Professor of Politics and American Studies Brendon O'Connor. Viet Thanh Nguyen is a University Professor, Aerol Arnold Chair of English, and Professor of English, American Studies and Ethnicity, and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California. He is the author of Race and Resistance: Literature and Politics in Asian America (Oxford University Press, 2002) and the New York bestseller and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Sympathizer (Grove Atlantic, 2016). His latest book is The Committed, the sequel to The Sympathizer, published by Grove Press in March 2021.

American Cultures Lecture with Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Professor Viet Thanh Nguyen

As it celebrates its 70th anniversary, the Australia-US alliance continues to evolve in response to a changing regional context in the Indo-Pacific. How do Australia’s neighbours in Southeast Asia understand the purpose of the alliance in 2021? Is the alliance seen as limiting Australia’s autonomy, or enhancing its influence? Is the alliance seen as distracting Australia from engaging its neighbours, or as contributing to regional security? This event explored how various trends, including the emergence of a more regionally assertive China and the development of networked security arrangements, have affected regional perceptions of ANZUS and its role in Australian foreign policy. Hosted by Susannah Patton, Research Fellow in the United States Studies Centre's Foreign Policy and Defence Program, this webinar featured perspectives from three leading Southeast Asian foreign and defence policy experts: Sarah Teo, Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the Regional Security Architecture Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore; Evan A. Laksmana, Wang Gungwu Visiting Fellow at the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore; and Shahriman Lockman, Director in the Chief Executive's Office of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies in Malaysia.

The Australia-US alliance: Views from the region

2020 will be remembered as one of the most tumultuous years in American history. COVID-19 tested every country, every government and every political leader in the world. But with the pandemic arriving as Donald Trump launched his campaign for re-election, the world watched aghast as the United States lost more than 500,000 of its citizens to COVID. From hydroxychloroquine and bleach, to making hostility to masks and social distancing emblems of partisanship, Trump’s last year as president was marked by incompetence, tragedy and ultimately, a violent test of American democratic institutions and social cohesion. How did the government of the world’s most powerful nation get so much so wrong? Who were the voices around Trump during this momentous year? And where to from here, not just for the United States, but for close allies such as Australia? To discuss these issues, the USSC hosted a webinar discussion with The Washington Post's Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, authors of the new book and New York Times #1 best seller I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Catastrophic Final Year, in conversation with United States Studies Centre CEO Professor Simon Jackman and Non-Resident Senior Fellow Bruce Wolpe.

Behind Trump the great and powerful - with The Washington Post's Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker

The United States Studies Centre and Perth USAsia Centre host a monthly web series reviewing the latest in US politics and policy and what this means for Australia. This month our guest was Ambassador Jane Hardy, who has joined the United States Studies Centre as a Visiting Senior Fellow from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. She most recently served as Consul-General in Honolulu from 2018 to 2021 during which time she led Australia’s engagement with US Indo-Pacific Command. Ambassador Hardy joined hosts United States Studies Centre Director of Foreign Policy and Defence Ashley Townshend and Perth USAsia Centre CEO Professor Gordon Flake for a discussion on the Biden administration's Indo-Pacific strategy.

US Politics and Policy Web Series with special guest Ambassador Jane Hardy

The United States Studies Centre and Perth USAsia Centre host a monthly web series reviewing the latest in US politics and policy and what this means for Australia. This month hosts Simon Jackman and Gordon Flake were joined by guests Dr Victoria A. Farrar-Myers, a dedicated civic leader, an award-winning educator and a distinguished scholar; and Professor Valerie Hudson, the George H.W. Bush Chair in the Department of International Affairs at The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, where she directs the Program on Women, Peace, and Security. She will join hosts Simon Jackman and Gordon Flake to discuss the latest in US politics and policy.

US Politics and Policy Web Series with special guests Victoria Farrar-Myers and Valerie Hudson

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