The vice president visited Australia, the first such trip by a senior official in the Trump administration.
He stressed the long-term alliance between the United States and Australia, especially the military alliance between the two countries that has been in place since the war in North Korea. Pence is on a 10-day tour of U.S. allies in Asia.
Pence spoke to Australian government officials about his hopes for the alliance, “The President wanted me to be here early in this administration to reaffirm the strong and historical alliance between the United States of America and Australia. As you mentioned, at this very hour we have soldiers fighting as they have for more than a century shoulder to shoulder in Iraq and Afghanistan. In my season of service in the Congress in the United States, I visited down range to see American troops and I scarcely remember a time that I didn’t see the Australian flag flying as part of the coalition forces. So we honour them, and my presence here today, on the President’s direction, is about a reaffirmation of the strong ties in both our security and prosperity and I couldn’t be more grateful.”
President Trump had earlier criticized the Australian government for treatment of refugees.
