Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are meeting their Australian counterparts for annual talks expected to focus on Indo-Pacific security and countering China’s increasing assertiveness in the region. Rubio, Hegseth, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defense Minister Richard Marles gathered Monday at the State Department. None of them mentioned China by name in their brief comments to reporters before the formal meeting began, but the challenges posed by Beijing have been a central theme of the U.S.-Australia relationship. The four discussed progress in the AUKUS pact, a Biden administration-era agreement under which the U.S., Britain and Australia committed to building nuclear submarines for the Australians.