today and look down at Perth, you would see a city that is sitting on a very strategic

part of our planet, Australia’s gateway to the vibrant trade and energy routes that

connect the Indian Ocean to the Pacific, the oil, the natural gas, the iron ore produced

here that flows through those trade routes to the entire world. It is no surprise that

foreign investment is soaring, including more than $100 billion from the United States,

because increasingly, these waters are at the heart of the global economy and a key

focus of America’s expanding engagement in the region, what we sometimes call our

pivot to Asia. We never actually left Asia; we’ve always been here and been a presence

here. We consider ourselves a Pacific power. But in the 21st century, it’s important

that we make absolutely clear we are here to stay. And how we think about the Asia Pacific

or the Indo Pacific region is going to be critical to our future as well as yours. We’ve

made it a strategic priority to support India’s Look East policy and to encourage Delhi to

play a larger role in Asian institutions and affairs. And it’s exciting to see the developments

as the world’s largest democracy and a dynamic emerging economy begin to contribute more

broadly to the region. It’s also important to see the burgeoning relationship between

Australia and India. And we support a Look West policy here in Australia, and certainly

applaud the Australian Government’s strategic white paper on Asian policy. We would welcome

joint Australia-Indian naval vessel exercises in the future, and we’re eager to work together

in the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation which Australia will chair in

2013 and which the United States has now joined as a dialogue partner. I’m here for what

are called the AUSMIN meetings. These are annual meetings that our Secretary of State

and Secretary of Defense hold with our counterparts, Stephen Smith and Bob Carr. We will be reviewing

implementation of the military agreements that Prime Minister Gillard and President

Obama reached last November, including the rotational deployment of U.S. marines in Darwin

and improving interoperability between our two navies. These steps will help both countries

safeguard commerce and respond to natural disasters in the sea lanes connecting the

Indian and Pacific Oceans. So here at the University of Western Australia, you are at

the leading edge of a crucial strategic shift linking two great oceans and strengthening

an historic alliance. And I hope that the work that you do here will help to light the

way just as Perth did for John Glenn 50 years ago, because when one stops to ponder it,

our commercial, cultural, and personal relationships are really at the core of how we see and hope

the world will develop in this century. Commercially, it’s already been set. We have deep and

growing ties. Culturally, we also share the values that democracies share. We share the

values of freedom and human rights, the dignity of every person. And personally, the connections

between us only grow stronger. So opening this center, and so well named the Perth USAsia

Centre, will give an additional impetus to exploring how we can broaden and deepen our

commercial, cultural, and personal relationships. It shouldn’t be any surprise that the United

States is just as interested in Australia as you seem to be interested in us. We’re

constantly following your sports. You seem to have a flood of entertainers who take the

American market by storm. The kinds of connections that we have between us are ones that we highly

value. Now of course, we’re living in a region that is changing so quickly, and there

are other countries whose interests and profiles are equally important for each of us. We look

for ways to support the peaceful rise of China, to support China becoming a responsible stakeholder

in the international community, and hope to see gradual but consistent opening up of a

Chinese society and political system that will more closely give the Chinese people

the opportunities that we in the United States and Australia are lucky to take for granted.

We have great relationships with our other friends and allies from Japan and South Korea,

Thailand, and the Philippines. Of course, we both enjoy close and growing relations

with Indonesia. So as we think about how this region will change, it’s important that

Australia and the United States work together, look to see how we can contribute to the kind

of region and world we hope to see for both of us to give our young people the opportunities

that they so richly deserve. So I thank you for your steadfast commitment to the U.S.-Australia

partnership. It is a partnership that is of itself of importance to each of us, but is

also a partnership that must remain at the core of the kind of engagement we have in

the Asia Pacific, Indo Pacific regions for now and for the future. Thank you all