MELBOURNE — The Pentagon’s top policy official said today that the US is happy with ongoing progress on the AUKUS trilateral partnership, with Australia especially moving forward with “energy and focus” on the program.
Speaking at a virtual media briefing during his visit to Southeast Asia, Elbridge Colby also stressed that the US would like to see “middle powers,” such as Japan, continue efforts to indigenize their local defense industries and sharply warned against efforts by some countries to band together to exclude the US.
Colby’s visit to the region began in the Philippines on Aug. 10 and will also take him to Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia.
At the outset of his tour, Colby said throughout the trip he “intend[s] to deliver a clear message that is at once both realistic and perhaps bracing but also reassuring: That America’s interests are more engaged than ever in the Indo-Pacific, and that we at the Department of War are concentrated on ensuring those interests are stoutly defended. This means a strong and growing U.S. investment in the region. But it is also coupled with a newfound but common sense expectation of much greater effort and contribution by our allies and partners. “
