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The US Secretary of State rejects responsibility over Russia after an badistant reporter at a US-Australian summit confronted him with a letter from a Perth father whose three children were killed in the crash of flight 17 of Malaysia Airlines.
"We need the Russians to continue to be held accountable for this," said Mike Pompeo.
"We take this matter seriously."
Pompeo said that America would continue to hold Russia accountable for the 298 people, including 38 Australians, who died when MH17 was hit by a Russian missile four years ago.
Perth's parents, Anthony Maslin and Rin Norris, lost their three children Otis, Evie and Mo and their grandfather Nick Norris in the incident.
A letter from Maslin was read by a journalist to Pompeo at a press conference Tuesday (local time) in California at the conclusion of the annual talks between Australia and the United States (AUSMIN ).
Pompeo, US Defense Secretary James Mattis and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Defense Minister Marise Payne have spent the past two days at AUSMIN talks, held at the United States. Stanford University.
The bishop said that AUSMIN's talks confirmed that "the United States is very lucid about Russia's behavior", despite last week's controversy between Trump and the president Russian Vladimir Putin.
"At no time did we have any indication that the United States would not hold Russia responsible for supporting the Assad regime in Syria or even the MH17 and for Russia to account for its role ".
Pompeo and Mattis have called the US-Australian alliance "rock-solid" in the face of China's economic and strategic expansion throughout the Indo-Pacific and the hard treatment of other allies by US President Donald Trump.
"The United States and Australia know we can count one on the other," Pompeo said at the closing press conference of the event.
Mattis added: "The United States and Australia will walk in the Indo-Pacific".
A group of small but vocal protesters, accompanied by a large inflatable "Trump Chicken", stood outside the Stanford Hoover Institution where the talks were being held.
Trump used Twitter and public events to attack American allies, including the United Kingdom and Germany, and unleashed a potential trade war with tariffs on friendly nations.
Bishop and Payne said the alliance remains strong.
"We do not always agree with the United States and the United States do not always agree with us, but we are able to overcome any difference constructively and positively and will continue to do so, "Bishop said. .
Talks confirmed the "full implementation" of force initiatives between US and Australian forces in Australia, including the commitment to increase the number of US Marines in Darwin to 2,500 " as soon as possible".
The United States and Australia have also signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on the research and development of advanced cyber capabilities.
Nations paid attention to their words about the militarization of China and the building of islands in the South China Sea and the wooing of the Pacific nations.
"We spent a lot of time over the last two days talking about how to keep an Indo-Pacific free and open," said Pompeo.
"It comes from a lot of places – certainly China is having problems there."
Mattis said that it was Australia's to embark on freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea.
"It's a sovereign decision taken by a sovereign state," he said.
Pompeo said that he was confident that the South Pacific nations would choose the United States over China, despite the Asian power movement to make economic and strategic advances with small island nations .
"I think the South Pacific, like most places in the world, includes the enormity of having an American ally – a country that has systematically projected democratic values for decades", a- he said.
"The human dignity that comes with having an American partner is different from having partners who are not quite like that.
"I think that with time, it will end up imposing, not only in the South Pacific, but all over the world."
– With AAP, AP
© Nine Digital Pty Ltd. 2018
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