“Trust but verify is the phrase,” Biden said when asked if Australia could trust Beijing.

But in a speech delivered at the US State Department on Thursday as he prepared to head to China in eight days,Albanese said his government’s approach was “patient,calibrated and deliberate”.

“This means investing in our capabilities to prevent competition escalating into conflict,and investing in our relationships to maintain the dialogue that safeguards stability,” Albanese said.

“This is where Australia,like the United States,has been working to stabilise our relationship with China. We are clear-eyed about this. We are two nations with very different histories,values and political systems.

“Australia will always look to co-operate with China where we can,disagree where we must and engage,in our national interest.”

Albanese’s comments were delivered at a lunch hosted by US Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Guests included former speaker Nancy Pelosi,a firm supporter of Taiwan,and theUS ambassador to Australia,Caroline Kennedy,whose father John F Kennedy was cited as an inspiration during Albanese’s speech.

“As a great American president and the father of the current US ambassador to Australia proved 60 years ago during the Cuban Crisis,the true measure of a superpower’s strength is the ability to pull the world back from the brink of conflict,” Albanese said.

“Once again,that has become the test of our time. China has been explicit:it does not see itself as a status-quo power. It seeks a region and a world that is much more accommodating of its values and interests.”

The prime minister spent the final morning of his Washington trip assuring US politicians that Australia was not looking for “a free ride” at America’s expense.

Those he met included Democrat majority leader Chuck Schumer,Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell and Friends of Australia co-chair Joe Courtney,as well as politicians who had previously raised concerns about AUKUS.

Among them was Republican senator Roger Wicker,who has blocked AUKUS bills by requesting that they be contingent on increased defence funding and pushed Biden to release Pentagon cost estimates for the project. Albanese also met Republican senator Jack Reed,the co-author of a letter last year warning Biden that the pact could stretch the US industrial base to “breaking point”.

“We were laser-focused on AUKUS and the legislation that’s required,and there’s been big steps forward on that,” Albanese told this masthead. “Just the engagement across the House and the Senate,and just the fact that the first meeting that the new Speaker has had was with me.”

In addition to export control reforms,several pieces of legislation still need to be passed to make AUKUS a reality,including:laws to enable the Virginia-class submarines to be transferred to Australia;a bill that would categorise Australia as a “domestic source” for military production under the US Defence Production Act;and a $3.4 billion White House funding request to strengthen the US Navy’s industrial base.

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