Show of force

Major General Jered P Helwig's chiselled American features sharpened in the Sydney sun, his array of insignia blinking like a ship's signals as he stood upon a Royal Australian Navy vessel to proclaim his nation's military alliance with the country.

- BERNARD LAGAN

As Helwig appeared before rolling news cameras last month at Sydney's Garden Island naval base, tethered next door was the US Navy's newest vessel, the USS Canberra, which became the first US warship to be commissioned in a foreign port.

Just in case anybody missed the point, the Canberra has a star-spangled kangaroo affixed to its side and the promise of an Australian naval officer always being part of its 80-odd mission crew.

"I can think of no better symbol of this shared future," said the US Ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, joining in the back-slapping as Australia's Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Richard Marles, mingled with his US counterparts.