US President Barack Obama visited India Indonesia South Korea and Japan but didn’t make it here although the US-Australian alliance is getting a lot of action right now.
Questions: Is the US staying in Asia? Can it maintain its military forward deployments in Asia? Can it handle China? How does Australia figure in this?
Rare earth minerals also are an issue. China is apparently suspending its exports of rare-earth minerals to Japan and the US and Australia are now looking at their own deposits of rare-earth minerals so critical in making some of our key technology.
On the US-Australia alliance Ausmin rolled out a big agenda of enhanced cooperation in space security cyber security and examining the possibility of greater US military use of Australian facilities.