Washington (AFP) - US President Joe Biden welcomed Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to the White House for a lavish state visit Wednesday with the two leaders hailing their shared stand on the Israel-Hamas conflict, Ukraine and China.
Biden and Albanese kicked off the visit with a South Lawn ceremony featuring a marching band and attended by nearly 4,000 guests, many waving American and Australian flags.
The US president praised the "enduring alliance" between the United States and Australia and said both nations were "standing with Israel against Hamas terrorism" and "standing with Ukraine against (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's tyranny."
Albanese said "all Australians condemn the atrocities, terror and pitiless brutality of Hamas" and thanked Biden for speaking with "moral clarity" about the conflict.
"You have stood up for a simple principle, the principle that every innocent life matters, Israeli and Palestinian, and that in every conflict every effort must be made to protect civilians," he said.
The 80-year-old Biden and Albanese, 60, then held talks in the Oval Office, to be followed by a joint press conference in the Rose Garden and a state dinner on the White House lawn.
The pomp-filled day reflects the importance Washington places on longtime ally Australia as a cornerstone of its strategy against an increasingly assertive Beijing in the Asia-Pacific region.
The visit is also set to include announcements on technology cooperation -- including a $3.2 billion Microsoft investment focused on artificial intelligence -- and on clean energy and "critical minerals" to secure supply chains.
The two leaders will also announce plans to boost undersea internet links and maritime infrastructure in Pacific island nations where China has been trying to expand its influence, senior US administration officials said.
'Sorrow and pain'
But Biden and Albanese in their initial comments spent more time talking about the two conflicts that are raising tensions, in the Middle East and Ukraine.
The fact that the White House canceled a performance at the dinner by rock band The B-52s for fear it would seem inappropriate also underscored the grave situations the two leaders will discuss.
"We are now in a time when so many are facing sorrow and pain, and we have decided to make adjustments to the entertainment portion of the evening," First Lady Jill Biden told reporters.
It will be just the fourth state dinner that Biden has hosted, with previous recipients being the leaders of France, South Korea and India.
In the Oval Office, Biden apologized for having to cancel a trip to Australia in May at the last minute and return to Washington to work on a deal with Congress to avoid a catastrophic US default.
The US Congress has now plunged into a fresh round of turmoil that threatens to hold up funding for the three-way AUKUS security deal between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
On China, both Washington and Canberra are seeking something of a reset in their tense relations with Beijing.
Albanese will hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in early November, while Biden may meet Xi at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in San Francisco later the same month.
"I know the president will be interested to share notes and compare details about what we're seeing with respect to Xi Jinping in China," a senior US administration official said.
