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Oct. 13, 2009: India-Australia Foreign Ministers Framework Dialogue is held in New Delhi. Oct. 25, 2009: East Asia Summit (EAS) held in Thailand. Oct. 28, 2009: The Fifth Regional Interfaith Dialogue, co-sponsored by Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand and the Philippines, is held in Perth. Nov. 5, 2009: Defense Minister John Faulkner in Washington for talks with Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Afghanistan. Nov. 5, 2009: Official figures show China has replaced Japan as Australia‟s largest two-way trading partner. Total trade with China increased by 30 percent to A$83 billion in the financial year ending in June 2009. Nov. 9, 2009: Sri Lanka and Australia release a Joint Ministerial Statement affirming their commitment to work together to combat people smuggling, the financing of terrorism, and related organized criminal activities. Nov. 12, 2009: Prime Minister (PM) Kevin Rudd visits New Delhi to take the relationship with India “to the level of a strategic partnership.” India and Australia announce a Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation covering counter-terrorism, defense, disarmament and nonproliferation, and maritime security. Nov. 15, 2009: APEC Leaders Meeting in Singapore. Nov. 25, 2009: Australia‟s Cabinet approves the first purchase of US joint-strike fighters. The initial 14 F-35s are estimated to cost of A$3.2 billion. Australia plans to buy 100 planes. Nov. 26, 2009: Jeffrey Bleich presents his credentials to the governor general as the 24th US ambassador to Australia. Nov. 30, 2009: PM Rudd meets President Barack Obama in Washington for talks on climate change and Afghanistan. Rudd says Australia will not increase troop numbers in Afghanistan but will send more police and aid workers. Australia-East Asia/US Relations 146 October 2010 Dec. 2, 2009: Ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Federal Parliament rejects the Rudd government‟s emissions trading scheme. Dec. 2, 2009: PM Rudd welcomes President Obama‟s announcement of a new strategy for Afghanistan as “the best way forward to provide security for the Afghan people.” Dec. 3, 2009: Australia hosts a track 1.5 conference in Sydney on PM Rudd‟s Asia-Pacific community proposal. Dec. 11, 2009: PM Rudd announces the creation of a National Security College in Canberra headed by former Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Michael L‟Estrange. Dec. 15, 2009: Foreign Minister (FM) Smith visits Seoul for talks on the Australia-Korea Security Cooperation Initiative. Dec. 15, 2009: Australia-Japan Report on Eliminating Nuclear Threats is released. Dec. 16, 2009: South Korea and Australia sign a development cooperation agreement that recognizes South Korea as an important emerging donor and development partner for Australia in Asia. Jan. 2, 2010: A 21-year-old Indian student is murdered in a knife attack in Melbourne. The death follows other attacks on Indians studying in Melbourne. India‟s external affairs minister says “uncivilised, brutal attacks on innocent Indians” will affect ties with Australia. Jan. 14, 2010: The Haiti earthquake means the postponement of a trip to Canberra by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, for the annual AUSMIN talks scheduled for Jan. 18. Jan. 15, 2010: The new Cyber Security Operations Centre in Canberra, within the Defense Signals Directorate, is officially opened. Feb. 3, 2010: Australia temporarily lifts its travel ban on members of Fiji‟s military regime so Fiji‟s foreign minister can fly to Canberra for talks with the foreign ministers of Australia and New Zealand. Feb. 6, 2010: Defense Minister John Faulkner meets NATO defense ministers in Istanbul to discuss the security and stability of Afghanistan. Feb. 8, 2010: A statement on Australian policy toward Burma is presented to Parliament by Foreign Minister Smith, maintaining targeted financial sanctions. Australia-East Asia/US Relations 147 October 2010 Feb. 11, 2010: Shanghai‟s People‟s Court announces details of commercial espionage charges against Australian mining executive Stern Hu and three of his Chinese colleagues, all employees of the mining firm Rio Tinto. Feb. 15, 2010: Five Muslim men are convicted of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act in Australia and given jail sentences of 23 to 28 years. Prosecutors argued the men were planning terrorist attacks to protest Australia‟s military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Feb. 18, 2010: Australian Ambassador to US Kim Beazley takes up the Washington post. Feb. 23, 2010: PM Rudd releases a Counter-Terrorism White Paper, stating “terrorism has become a persistent and permanent feature of Australia's security environment.” Feb. 26, 2010: The 50th anniversary of the Australia-US agreement to provide space tracking and communications facilities to NASA. March 4, 2010: FM Smith visits New Delhi and meets India‟s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Smith gives assurances that Australia is taking the issue of Indian student safety seriously. March 10, 2010: Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono addresses the Australian Parliament, saying relations “hit an all-time low” in 1999 during the crisis over East Timor‟s independence vote. Now, the two have a “fair dinkum” partnership which is “solid and strong.” March 15, 2010: First round of talks are held on the creation of a Trans-Pacific Partnership. March 24, 2010: Australia and Japan submit a Joint Package on Nuclear Disarmament to the UN, to be considered at the Review Conference of the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in May 2010. March 26, 2010: Five F/A-18F fighter jets arrive at Amberley, near Brisbane. The planes are the first of 24 Super Hornets to enter service, the RAAF‟s first new fighter jets since 1985. March 29, 2010: Australian mining executive Stern Hu is sentenced in a Shanghai court to 10 years in jail after being found guilty of accepting bribes and stealing trade secrets. April 9, 2010: Responding to the flow of boat people, Australia places a temporary ban on processing refugee applications by citizens of Afghanistan and Iraq. The government later announces that the Indian Ocean asylum-seeker detention camp at Christmas Island is housing more than its capacity – 2,040 people. April 19, 2010: China is accused of mounting cyber-attacks against Australia‟s major iron ore producers, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals. The claim of internet espionage is made in a TV documentary by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. April 23, 2010: PM Rudd announces the creation in Canberra of a new think tank, the Australian Centre on China in the World. Australia-East Asia/US Relations 148 October 2010 April 26, 2010: The Rudd government drops its scheme for an emissions trading scheme to deal with carbon pollution, citing the political problems of getting the law through Parliament. April 27, 2010: The first coordinated maritime security patrol by the Australia and Indonesian militaries in the waters between Australia and Indonesia is completed. The patrol involves the Australian and Indonesian shared maritime boundaries to the south of West Timor. April 27, 2010: The US and Australia renew their Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement, a treaty for cooperative military logistics support. April 29, 2010: Australia and the US agree to strengthen emergency management cooperation including during bushfires, major storms, and other severe natural disasters. May 5, 2010: Australia and the US sign a new agreement on the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy. The treaty replaces the existing 1979 agreement, which expires in January 2011. May 5, 2010: The RAAF accepts delivery from Boeing of two Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEWC) aircraft. The A$3.9 billion project, delayed by four years, is described as having “come a long way” on a “path has not been straightforward.” May 17, 2010: FM Smith visits Shanghai to open Australian Pavilion at Shanghai World Expo. May 19, 2010: The third 2+2 meeting between the foreign and defense ministers of Japan and Australia is held in Tokyo, reflecting what Canberra calls a “substantial strengthening of bilateral defence and security ties.” May 31, 2010: The Pacific Island Forum Ministerial Contact Group convenes in Auckland for talks with Fiji‟s military regime. June 7, 2010: Two Australia soldiers on patrol in Afghanistan are killed by an improvised explosive Device (IED). June 21, 2010: Three Australian commandos are killed when a helicopter crashes in northern Kandahar. Seven of their colleagues are wounded. It is the largest loss of life in a single incident in Australia‟s deployment to Afghanistan. June 24, 2010: Kevin Rudd is deposed as Labor leader and prime minister by Julia Gillard. July 10, 2010: One Australian soldier is killed and another wounded following an IED attack in Afghanistan‟s Chora Valley. July 12, 2010: Fiji expels Australia‟s acting ambassador in Suva, claiming Australia is interfering in Fiji‟s internal affairs. Aug. 4, 2010: The Pacific Islands Forum summit held in Vanuatu. Australia-East Asia/US Relations 149 October 2010 Aug. 5, 2010: Australia is confirmed as vice chair of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation for 2011 and 2012. Aug. 20, 2010: Two Australian soldiers are killed when struck by an IED in Afghanistan. Aug. 21, 2010: Australia‟s voters go to the polls but return a hung Parliament. Aug. 24, 2010: An Australian is killed in Afghanistan. This brings the number of Australians killed since operations began in 2001 to 21, 10 of them so far in 2010. Sept. 7, 2010: Labor forms a minority government. The White House says President Obama phoned PM Gillard to offer his congratulations on her successful formation of a government. Sept 28, 2010: Three Australia soldiers will face court martial over the deaths of six people in Afghanistan. The charges are made after an investigation into a compound clearing operation in Afghanistan on Feb. 12, 2009.