Director of Foreign Policy and Defence at the US Studies Centre Ashley Townshend told Sky News it’s good to see Australia and the US begin to focus more intently on problems faced by countries in the Asia-Pacific region. At this year’s AUSMIN talks there was heavy focus on broadening security measures against China in order to communicate a degree of “collective action” in standing up against the kind of coercion Beijing presents particularly towards south-east Asian countries, according to Mr Townshend.