The Trump administration is considering appointing Adm. Harry Harris, head of U.S. Pacific Command, as the next ambassador to Australia, according to a report.
Harris — America’s top military brass in the Asia-Pacific — was former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s preferred candidate for the position given Harris’s desire for a heavier U.S. presence in the region to counteract China’s maritime aggressions, officials told the Washington Post’s Josh Rogin.
The move could placate uneasiness felt by Australian officials about the state of U.S.-Australian relations in the fallout over President Trump’s first telephone conversation with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull becoming public.
The appointment would also support the administration’s understaffed Asian foreign policy team, which is without an ambassador to South Korea, an assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific Affairs and an assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs while tensions with North Korea continue to escalate.
