WASHINGTON
\nJoe Biden\u2019s senior advisers have acknowledged countries in the Indo-Pacific don\u2019t want to be \u201ctrampled by a headlong clash\u201d between the US and China.
\nIn a webinar with an Australian audience on Friday, senior White House national security council (NSC) officials said the US president wanted to give allies and other close partners \u201cbreathing space\u201d to engage with China constructively.
\nEdgard Kagan, the NSC\u2019s senior director for east Asia and Oceania, said Biden had been listening to the region\u2019s concerns.
\n\u201cI think the president is very focused on the fact that we cannot strengthen our relations with allies and partners if we just try and jam our views down their throat,\u201d Kagan said. \u201cThat\u2019s not who he is.\u201d
\nBeijing has accused the G7 countries of collaborating to \u201csmear and attack\u201d it at last weekend\u2019s summit in Hiroshima, Japan, after leaders outlined strong concerns about China\u2019s actions in the region.
\nBut after attending the summit, Biden told reporters to expect improvements in the US-China relationship, adding: \u201cIn terms of talking with them, I think you\u2019re going to see that thaw very shortly.\u201d
\nThe Australian government is also seeking to \u201cstabilise\u201d its relationship with China, with the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, suggesting he is open to travelling to Beijing later this year if restrictions on Australian exports are removed.
\nKagan said on Friday that Biden had \u201clong been very clear that he does not want conflict\u201d with China, even though there would be \u201cvery serious competition\u201d between the two countries.
\n\u201cWe both have strong interests and important interests but that doesn\u2019t mean that can\u2019t find ways in which we\u2019re able to at least sit down together, work together where possible,\u201d Kagan told the webinar hosted by the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.
\nMira Rapp-Hooper, the director for Indo-Pacific strategy at the NSC, admitted the tone of Biden\u2019s recent comments seeking constructive talks with China was also \u201can important tool of alliance management\u201d.
\nShe acknowledged that allies and partners, within the region and across the world, \u201cdon\u2019t want to feel like they\u2019re being forced to choose between two competing great powers\u201d.
\n\u201cThey don\u2019t want to feel like they\u2019re being trampled by a headlong clash,\u201d Rapp-Hooper said.
\n\u201cHe chose to signal that to the rest of the world, as well, because for so many allies and partners having that bit of breathing space where they feel like they, too, can engage China on constructive terms if they need to or want to is really important.\u201d
\nBiden cut short his trip to the region, postponing planned trips to Papua New Guinea and Australia, so that he could focus on the high-stakes negotiations with congressional republicans over the debt ceiling.
\nThat forced the cancellation of the planned Quad summit at the Sydney Opera House on Wednesday, although the leaders of the US, Japan, Australia and India still met in Hiroshima.
\nKurt Campbell, the coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs at the NSC, told the same webinar that Biden still travelled to Japan because postponing the entire trip would be \u201ccatastrophic\u201d.
\nCampbell acknowledged there were \u201cobvious concerns and worries\u201d within the Indo-Pacific about whether the region could \u201ccount on the United States\u201d to be a \u201csteady predictable force\u201d.
\nHe said Biden had expressed his \u201cdeepest regrets\u201d to Albanese and the pair had still proceeded with the signing of a \u201cBlockbuster agreement on climate and the provision of critical minerals\u201d.
\nBiden and Albanese also took steps to ensure \u201call elements of Aukus\u201d, including the nuclear-powered submarine plan and collaboration on other advanced defence technology, were \u201con track\u201d.
\nA report issued by Australian strategic Policy Institute on Friday said Aukus and other moves would see the defence relationship between Australia and the US \u201cgrow in scope and complexity\u201d
\nBut US military personnel commonly did \u201cnot fully grasp\u201d Australia\u2019s sensitivities to maintaining its own sovereignty, according to Col Alan W Throop, a US Army War College fellow at Aspi.
\nHe called on the US Department of Defense to \u201cunderstand that sovereignty is essential when dealing with the Australian Defence system\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON Joe Biden\u2019s senior advisers have acknowledged countries in the Indo-Pacific don\u2019t want to be \u201ctrampled by a headlong clash\u201d between the US and China. In a webinar with an Australian audience on Friday, senior White House national security council (NSC) officials said the US president wanted to give allies and other close partners \u201cbreathing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333646,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-333628","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n