Sources said the government has not ruled out the possibility that Biden could travel to Australia at the beginning of September for local commemorations if his schedule allowed.
Loading
Discussions are also under way for Morrison and Biden to hold a face-to-face meeting in Washington with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the September visit.
All the events are still in the planning stages and could be affected by any worsening of the coronavirus pandemic.
Morrison last visited the US in September 2019,when Trump hosted a rare state dinner in his honour at the White House.
The leaders of the so-called “Quad” nations heldtheir first ever joint meeting earlier this year via teleconference and announced a plan to distribute 1 billion COVID-19 vaccines to developing nations in the Asia-Pacific.
The Biden administration sees the Quad - officially known as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue - as a crucial component in its bid to counter China’s growing dominance in Asia.
The leaders of the Quad - Australia,the US,India and Japan - Scott Morrison,Joe Biden,Narendra Modi and Yoshihide Suga.Credit:AP
Kurt Campbell,Biden’s top Asia official,said during a think tank event on Wednesday that the administration was planning a “very ambitious” in-person meeting between the four leaders in Washington in the northern autumn (which begins in September).
Biden’s bid to repair America’s global standing is already paying dividends,according to the study released late Thursday (AEST) by the Pew Research Centre,based on surveys in 16 advanced economies across Europe,North America and the Asia-Pacific.
Seventy-five per cent of respondents in the surveyed countries said they had confidence that Biden would do the right thing for world affairs,up from just 17 per cent who said the same for Trump during the final year of his presidency.
The study found 62 per cent of respondents now have a favourable image of the US,up from 36 per cent at the end of Trump’s term.
Seventy-five per cent of Australians said they had faith that Biden would do the right thing for the world,up from just 23 per cent who said the same of Trump.
But in Australia,Biden’s election victory has not translated into the massive outpouring of goodwill towards the US that has been evident in other countries.
Australians and New Zealanders had the least positive perceptions of the US among the 16 countries surveyed.
Loading
Forty-eight per cent of Australian respondents said they had a favourable view of the US,while 49 per cent said they had an unfavourable view.
Citizens in Japan,Canada,the United Kingdom and South Korea had a significantly more positive view of the US.
Unlike the French and Germans,Australians still felt significantly less positive about the US than they did in 2016,Barack Obama’s final year as president.
Australians’ reservations may be linked to concerns about the health of the American democracy following the storming of the Capitol on January 6 and Trump’s false claims of widespread election fraud.
Just 34 per cent of Australians and 30 per cent of New Zealanders said they believed America’s political system worked very or somewhat well,significantly below that in other countries.
Just one in 10 Australians believe America’s model of democracy is one other countries should follow.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories,analysis and insights.Sign up here.