Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said yesterday he will begin his first major overseas trip as Australia's leader this month, including visits to the US and China -- underscoring their importance.
Rudd said he would talk with US President George W. Bush on a planned withdrawal of Australian combat troops from Iraq.
Bush telephoned his Australian counterpart on Monday to invite him to visit Washington on March 28 for a White House meeting and lunch, Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for White House National Security Council, said in a statement.
Rudd said he would also meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao (
"The visit is to advance Australia's security, foreign policy and business interests, and to advance Australia's contribution to the global response on climate change," Rudd said.
Rudd and Bush spoke by telephone yesterday in the wake of a recent visit to Canberra by US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, at which both sides reaffirmed their tight military alliance and discussed progress in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Rudd's center-left Labor government plans to withdraw 550 combat troops from Iraq mid-year, leaving about 1,000 non-combat troops behind and another 1,000 fighting Taliban insurgents alongside Dutch forces in southern Afghanistan.
Rudd said he would meet Bush at the White House on March 28 and senior Congress members the following week in the first high-level visit since Labor's November election victory, which ended almost 12 years of conservative rule.
He would also call on the UN in New York as Canberra considers pushing for a rotating Security Council seat.
Rudd said he would go to Brussels between April 2 and April 3 to meet senior European Commission officials for talks on the WTO Doha round of international trade talks and climate shift.
He is then scheduled to become the first Australian leader to address NATO chiefs and reinforce non-alliance member Canberra's concern about progress in the war in Afghanistan, increasing pressure on European pact members like Germany to do more to help battle the Taliban.
Australia is the biggest contributor of troops in Afghanistan outside NATO and has demanded greater access to the alliance war plan for the country.
China is Australia's biggest trading partner and Rudd said that he would work closely with representatives of the Australian business community seeking to expand their trade and investment opportunities in the Asian giant.
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
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