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Nov. 24, 2007: Labor Party wins office in Australia’s federal election. Dec. 3, 2007: The first official act of the new Rudd government is to sign the instrument of ratification of the UN Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. Dec. 19, 2007: Australia announces a Special Envoy on Whale Conservation as part of the effort to urge Japan “to end the slaughter of whales in the Southern Ocean.” Jan. 18, 2008: For the first time, the Royal Australian Navy takes part in the biennial exercise, MILAN, hosted by India’s Joint Military Command, located on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal. Feb. 4, 2008: China and Australia hold their first bilateral Ministerial Strategic Dialogue to consider global issues and strategic outlooks in the Asia-Pacific. Feb. 7, 2008: Indonesian and Australia bring into force the Australia-Indonesia Framework for Security Cooperation (the Lombok Treaty), a framework for security cooperation and defense, law enforcement, counter-terrorism, maritime security and emergency preparedness. Australia and East Asia/U.S. relations 147 October 2009 Feb. 11, 2008: East Timor rebels seriously wound President Jose Ramos Horta and attack a convoy carrying Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao. Ramos Horta is evacuated to Darwin Hospital and Australia sends extra troops to Dili. Feb. 12, 2008: Papua New Guinea and Australia agree to extend the moratorium on mining and drilling in the Torres Strait for an indefinite period. Feb. 15, 2008: Prime Minister (PM) Rudd flies to East Timor for talks with PM Gusmao. Feb. 18, 2008: Defense Minister (DM) Joel Fitzgibbon announces a review of the adequacy of planning for Australia’s Air Combat Capability. Feb. 23 2008: Annual AUSMIN talks in Canberra involving Australia’s Foreign Minister (FM) Stephen Smith and Defense Minister Fitzgibbon with the U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte. March 6-8, 2008: PM Rudd visits Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. In Port Moresby, he announces “a new era of cooperation with the island nations of the Pacific.” March 27-April 1, 2008: PM Rudd visits the U.S. to meet President Bush and visit the UN. March 27, 2008: Indonesia’s DM Juwono Sudarsono meets DM Fitzgibbon for talks on the Australia-Indonesia Lombok Treaty on security cooperation. April 3, 2008: PM Rudd attends a summit meeting of NATO Heads of Government in Bucharest to decide on ways to improve the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) strategy and mission in Afghanistan. April 9-12, 2008: PM Rudd visits Beijing to meet President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao, and the new generation of leadership emerging from the 17th Party Congress. April 13, 2008: The Queen announces that her new representative in Australia is to be Quentin Bryce. She is Australia’s first female governor-general. April 23, 2008: The 18th Australia-Papua New Guinea Ministerial Forum held in Madang. April 26, 2008: Australia withdraws the additional 200 troops deployed to East Timor following the attack in February on President Ramos-Horta. May 5, 2008: Australia’s ambassador to Burma makes a plea directly to Burmese ministers to allow in international help to deal with the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. May 20, 2008: Australia expresses deep concern at “serious and credible threats” directed at the Australian High Commission in Suva and calls on Fiji’s military regime to meet its obligations to protect diplomatic staff. Australia and East Asia/U.S. relations 148 October 2009 June 1, 2008: Australia’s 550-strong battle group at Tallil in southern Iraq ceases operations. June 23, 2008: The Australia-India Foreign Ministers Framework Dialogue is held in Canberra. June 27, 2008: FM Smith, Japan’s FM Koumura Masahiko, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meet in Kyoto for the third ministerial meeting of the Trilateral Strategic Dialogue. June 29-July 31, 2008: Australia participates in Exercise RIMPAC 2008 in waters off Hawaii. July 15, 2008: Secretary of Defense Gates meets DM Fitzgibbon to sign a treaty extending the U.S. use of the Harold E. Holt Naval Communication Station at Exmouth in Western Australia for another 25 years. The station provides communications for U.S. and Australian submarines. July 24-25, 2008: Secretary of State Rice visits Perth. Aug 2-3, 2008: Australia participates as an observer to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in Colombo. Aug. 18, 2008: Australia launches a three-year Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme for 2,500 workers from Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu, to do horticultural labor in regional Australia. Aug. 26, 2008: The 6th Australia-Vietnam Human Rights Dialogue is held in Canberra. Aug. 30, 2008: In Vietnam, an investigation team finds the grave and ID tags of the last Australian soldier unaccounted for from the Vietnam War. Sept. 5, 2008: Gillian Bird, a deputy secretary of Foreign Affairs, is appointed Australia’s first ambassador to ASEAN. Sept. 24, 2008: Australia has defense talks with NATO’s Defense and Security Committee on developments in Afghanistan. Sept. 24, 2008: FM Smith chairs a meeting at the UN of member States of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Oct. 9, 2008: Philippines-Australia Ministerial Meeting in Manila. Nov. 12, 2008: The 9th Australia-Indonesia Ministerial Forum in Canberra. Nov. 15, 2008: G20 summit in Washington. Nov. 25, 2008: Indonesia and Australia announce the creation in 2009 in Jakarta of the Australia-Indonesia Disaster Reduction Facility to support Southeast Asia disaster management. The facility will cost U.S$42 million over its first five years. Australia and East Asia/U.S. relations 149 October 2009 Nov. 27, 2008: The Asia Pacific Centre of Excellence for Civil-Military Cooperation opens near Canberra. Dec. 4, 2008: Australia’s first National Security Statement is published. Maj. Gen. (ret.) Duncan Lewis appointed to the new position of national security adviser to the prime minister. Dec. 4, 2008: Australia signs Treaty on Cluster Munitions. Dec. 10, 2008: Indonesian President Yudhoyono and PM Rudd co-chair Bali Democracy Forum. Dec. 10, 2008: The Pacific Islands Forum Ministerial Contact Group visit Fiji for “talks aimed at restoring democracy and the rule of law to Fiji.” Dec. 18, 2008: PM Rudd visits Australian troops serving in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan. Dec. 18, 2008: Australia-Japan Joint Foreign and Defense Ministerial Consultations in Tokyo. Dec. 23, 2008: Fiji expels the Australian South Pacific Defense Advisor based at Australia’s embassy in Suva. Dec. 24, 2008: Bangladesh and Australia sign a Counter Terrorism Agreement. Jan. 27, 2009: Australia announces Pacific Partnerships for Development with Solomon Islands and Kiribati. Feb. 26, 2009: The UN Mission mandate in East Timor is renewed until Feb. 26, 2010. Feb. 27, 2009: Trade ministers meet to sign the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA). March 3, 2009: Annual talks between prime ministers of New Zealand and Australia agree on strengthened trans-Tasman cooperation. March 5, 2009: South Korean President Lee Myung-bak visits Canberra for the Australia – Republic of Korea Joint Statement on Enhanced Global and Security Cooperation. March 24, 2009: President Obama and PM Rudd meet at the White House. April 2, 2009: G20 summit in London. April 9, 2009: FM Smith and DM Fitzgibbon in Washington for annual AUSMIN talks with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Gates. April 14, 2009: Allan Gyngell, founding executive director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy, becomes director-general of the Office of National Assessments in the Prime Minister’s Department. Australia and East Asia/U.S. relations 150 October 2009 April 14, 2009: Indonesia and Australia co-chair Bali meeting on regional cooperation to strengthen borders to combat people smuggling. May 1, 2009: Fiji suspended from the Pacific Islands Forum. May 2, 2009: Australian Defense White Paper released. May 8, 2009: The inaugural Australia-Thailand Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation meets in Perth. May 19, 2009: Australia’s signs the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and announces it will enact a specific Australian law against torture. May 26, 2009: ASEAN announces that Australia will join the Asian side at the Asia-Europe summit to be held in Brussels in 2010. May 27, 2009: Australia announces Pacific Partnership for Development with Vanuatu. May 29, 2009: PM Rudd addresses the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. April 2, 2009: G20 summit in London. April 29, 2009: Australia adds an extra 450 troops to its force in Afghanistan. June 10, 2009: The 19th Australia-Papua New Guinea Ministerial Forum in Brisbane. July 5, 2009: Mining executive and Australian citizen Stern Hu and three Chinese colleagues are arrested by China for suspected bribery and espionage. July 7, 2009: PM Rudd accompanies FM Smith to Kuala Lumpur to mark the inaugural Australia-Malaysia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. July 12, 2009: Australia implements new UN sanctions against North Korea. July 22-23, 2009: In Thailand, the 16th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the ASEAN-Australia Post Ministerial Conference, the East Asia Summit (EAS) Foreign Ministers’ Consultations, and the Trilateral Strategic Dialogue among Australia, Japan, and the U.S. July 27, 2009: Australia’s foreign affairs, defense, and trade ministers in Singapore for the Joint Ministerial Committee with Singapore. Aug. 5, 2009: Annual Pacific Islands Forum in Cairns. Aug. 10, 2009: Australian Forces in southern Afghanistan kill Mullah Abdul Karim, “a tactical-level insurgent commander active in the Khaz Oruzgan area and known to be directly responsible for numerous attacks against Australian and Afghan forces.” Australia and East Asia/U.S. relations 151 October 2009 Australia and East Asia/U.S. relations 152 October 2009 Aug. 12, 2009: Australia ratifies the Third Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions. Aug. 15, 2009: PM Rudd speaks to the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue in Melbourne. Aug. 22, 2009: The first Australia-New Zealand Joint Cabinet Meeting is held in Sydney, chaired by the two prime ministers. Sept. 1, 2009: U.S. and Australia agree to invite China to take part in trilateral defense exercises. Sept. 1, 2009: Fiji is suspended from the Commonwealth because of the military regime’s refusal to commit to a prompt return to democracy. Sept. 7, 2009: General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nong Duc Manh has talks in Canberra with the Australian Cabinet. Sept. 12, 2009: President Obama’s nominates Jeff Bleich as new U.S. ambassador to Australia. Sept. 17, 2009: Former Labor leader Kim Beazley is appointed Australia’s ambassador to the United States. Former Liberal leader and Defense Minister Brendan Nelson is appointed ambassador to the European Communities (and to Belgium and Luxembourg), Australia’s representative to NATO, and Special Representative to the World Health Organization. Sept. 21, 2009: Trilateral Strategic Dialogue Ministerial Meeting in New York among FM Smith, Japanese FM Okada Katsuya, and Secretary of State Clinton. Sept. 22, 2009: Trilateral Ministerial Meeting between Indonesia, Australia, and East Timor. Sept. 24–25, 2009: G20 summit in Pittsburgh.