Kim said that as someone who helped write the initial legislation that authorized AUKUS, he strongly supports AUKUS which is also strongly supported by the US President.
This partnership, he said, is about deepening defense industrial base cooperation.
The second pillar of the AUKUS partnership is actually to promote the defense industrial base between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
To that end, the programs being pursued within the partnership, given what is happening across the region, are to help stabilize the situation.
“The way that we frame it is, how do we provide U.S. solutions to regional challenges?” the ambassador said.
And one of the most critical regional challenges in ASEAN region, he further explained, is fraud centers which is also a global challenge. That’s why the FBI is working to combat such issues, he added.
“The FBI has lots of focus on the domestic side, but he’s willing to travel to Indonesia. He’s willing to travel to Cambodia and Thailand to tackle scam center issues because it affects everyone throughout the world,” Kim stated.
The United States has collaborated with private sector partners, such as Google and Meta, to advance 10 principles of public-private partnerships in order to combat those fraudulent hubs in Southeast Asia.
Kim stressed that the United States will continue to work to address these issues, and will continue to provide support, both through bilateral channels, and through cooperation with ASEAN to overcome regional challenges.
