It was widely thought Scott Morrison's first meeting with US President Joe Biden would be a bilateral encounter, as is usual on the sidelines of a leaders' summit.
Key points:
- China was the main topic of conversation as Scott Morrison met US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the G7 leaders' summit in Cornwall
- UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson joined what was meant to be a bilateral meeting between Mr Morrison and the US leader
- Mr Morrison remains steadfast in the decision to keep Australia's borders shut until "medical advice" says otherwise
But instead, unexpectedly and unusually, the Prime Minister’s anticipated one on one with the US leader became a three-man affair.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson turned up too.
Mr Morrison said it was a "unique opportunity" and a "mutual" decision.
Nevertheless, it marked Mr Morrison’s first encounter with the new US President and an opportunity to reset the alliance and relationship in a post-Trump world.
"Australia has no greater friends than the United States and the United Kingdom, and we've been working together on our respective security issues for a very long time,” Mr Morrison said after the encounter that lasted for 40 minutes.
On top of the agenda was concern about Indo-Pacific security threats.
In a statement, the White House said the trio agreed that the context in the Indo-Pacific was changing and there was a strong rationale for deepening strategic cooperation between the three nations.
G7 leaders as a whole agree united action is needed. At the summit in Cornwall they have agreed to a spending plan for a massive boost in infrastructure investment in developing countries to counter China's growing global influence.
But that will take time. Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative, which has seen billions of dollars poured into poor nations, has been underway for eight years already. There is a lot of catching up to do.
Supplied: Australian Government
)And the world's largest economies are struggling to find consensus on exactly how they should handle China in other areas.
A leaked communique though, shows the G7 leaders could unite behind a call for a second independent probe into the origins of COVID-19, a move that would deeply anger Beijing.
Despite the trade backlash Australia suffered after calling for the first probe, Mr Morrison agreed it was needed.
"The first inquiry, the first investigation, we called for, which Helen Clark amongst others were part of conducting, that recommended that there be even further work done, and that further work should be done," Mr Morrison told reporters in Cornwall.
"What I'm simply saying is that the process that we called for is not yet done. And it is recommending further work."
But while united with Australia on countering China, Mr Biden does not agree with Canberra's approach to climate change and is demanding a firm commitment to the 2050 target for zero net emissions.
Mr Johnson has pressured the Australian leader on that front too; However, Mr Morrison said the topic was not raised during the three-way talks.
Australia's COVID-19 bubble to continue
There was a moment on day one of the G7 summit, where it seemed the worst of the pandemic may really be behind us.
After a fair bit of elbow bumping among the leaders of the G7, a welcome family photo was taken, and then Mr Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron walked off with their arms around each other.
The summit is adhering to COVID-19 guidelines, requiring frequent lateral flow and PCR testing of attendees and journalists, but this was a sight to behold; two vaccinated world leaders, happy they were safe to be close.
Just months ago, it would never have happened.
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But Mr Morrison remains steadfast on Australia's decision to extend border restrictions.
"We'll continue to take an Australian path on this which protects the lives and livelihoods and learn from the experiences of other countries," he said, adding Australians should only be able to travel "when the medical advice suggests that we should".
"We are already seeing here in the UK that that high level of vaccination is preventing those hospitalisations, which is its purpose and that's welcome, but we're also seeing very high numbers of cases and at this stage of the pandemic, it is not clear where it goes next," he said on Saturday morning.
It is true. Mr Johnson is himself grappling with what comes next and is facing a dilemma over whether to lift all restrictions on June 21, despite steadily rising numbers.
Reuters: Peter Nicholls
)There were more than 7,700 new cases in the UK on Saturday. The Indian variant now accounts for 96 per cent of known cases and numbers are doubling every week.
Mr Morrison put it bluntly: "I'd rather be living in the arrangements we have in Australia than anywhere else in the world."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiX2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIxLTA2LTEzL3Njb3R0LW1vcnJpc29uLWJpZGVuLWc3LWNvdmlkLTE5LWJvcmlzLWpvaG5zb24vMTAwMjExNDEy0gEoaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuYWJjLm5ldC5hdS9hcnRpY2xlLzEwMDIxMTQxMg?oc=5
2021-06-12 23:57:55Z
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