Australia's Ambassador to Washington, who spoke on Friday, said that his country was working with the Pentagon in order to review the U.S. Defense Department project for the AUKUS sub and is confident all issues will be resolved.

Kevin Rudd, at the Aspen Security Forum, made this comment and emphasized his close relationship with Elbridge Collby, U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, who initiated the review. He also referred to the longstanding U.S. - Australia defense alliance.

Rudd, in reference to Colby, said: "We are working with Bridge and his team on the AUKUS Review... and we're confident that we will work our way through every issue he raised within the context of this Internal Defense Department review."

Bridge has visited my office many times and we are familiar with each other. I am confident that, despite the mature relationship between our two defense establishments, we will be able to work through these issues.

Rudd, former Australian Prime Minister, said that the U.S. - Australia alliance has endured 15 presidents, and 15 prime minsters of different parties.

The United States, Australia and Britain will unveil details in 2023 of the AUKUS Plan to provide Australia with attack submarines powered by nuclear energy from early 2030s. This is part of efforts to counter China’s ambitions for the Indo-Pacific. This is Australia's largest ever defense project. In June, the Pentagon announced that it was reviewing AUKUS in order to make sure it "aligned" with President Obama's America First Agenda. This was due to concerns over the U.S.'s ability to meet its submarine needs as well as whether Australia's ships would be used to support U.S. policies in the future. Pat Conroy, Australia's Defence Industry minister, responded on Sunday to a report stating that the Pentagon had pressed Australia for clarification of what role they would play in the event the U.S. & China went to war about Taiwan. Conroy said Australia would not commit any troops to a conflict before the Pentagon contacted them. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also refused to agree to a U.S. request to increase defense spending to 3.5% from the current 2%. He said that Australia would instead spend whatever was necessary for its defence. (Reporting and editing by Mark Porter, Rod Nickel, and David Brunnstrom)

(source: Reuters)