Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was publicly honored Monday evening by U.S. President Donald Trump, receiving a prestigious decoration for “leadership in addressing global challenges.”
Donald Trump granted the U.S. Legion of Merit to Morrison, along with former and current leaders of U.S. allies including Japan and India.
The awards to Morrison, Shinzo Abe of Japan and India’s Narendra Modi were presented by the U.S. national security adviser, Robert O’Brien.
The Legion of Merit is a U.S. military decoration which is also conferred on military and political figures of foreign governments.
According to the official national security council Twitter account, Morrison’s award was “for his leadership in addressing global challenges and promoting collective security.”
Australia’s ambassador to the U.S., Arthur Sinodinos, received the medal on the Australian leader’s behalf.
Sinodinos tweeted he was honored to accept the award, quoting Trump as saying the award saluted Morrison’s leadership and “strengthened the partnership between the United States and Australia in addressing global challenges and promoting collective security.”
Abe received the award for his leadership and vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific while Modi was honored for his leadership in driving the U.S.-India strategic partnership.
The Indian and Japanese ambassadors to the U.S. accepted the awards on behalf of their respective recipients.
Australia has had a close relationship with the U.S. through war and peace for well over a century.
As Breitbart News reported, last year Morrison said Australia and America “see the world through the same eyes” and paid elegant tribute to American leadership in the South-West Pacific theater during World War Two, applauding the United States as it “helped secure the freedom we enjoy today” after it joined Australia in turning back Japan from occupying nearby Papua New Guinea.
He said Australia and the U.S. had “always understood each other and stood by each other.”
“Australia believes in what Ronald Reagan called the ‘truths and traditions’ that define the United States,” Morrison said. “We stand together in these self-evident truths. We stand together for personal liberty and freedom. For democracy and the ballot box. For the rule of law, and freedom of association. For free economies and free peoples.”
For his part, Trump welcomed Morrison to the White House last September for an official state visit.
Conservative coalition leader Morrison was just the second world figure to be granted that high diplomatic honor during the Trump administration.