WATCH: Biden meets with Australian prime minister at G7 summit

President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met on Saturday on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima.

Watch the remarks in the video player above.

Biden aims to challenge China’s buildout across the Indo-Pacific, including with the so-called Quad partnership of the U.S., Australia, Japan and India.

The Quad members originally had been scheduled to meet in Sydney next week, but rescheduled for the sidelines of the G7 to allow Biden to return to Washington earlier on Sunday in hopes of finalising a deal to increase the debt ceiling before the U.S. runs out of cash to pay its bills.

WATCH: White House holds briefing as Biden attends G-7 summit, debt limit talks stall

The shortened trip has reinforced a fundamental tension shaping Biden’s presidency: As he has tried to signal to the world that the U.S. is reclaiming the mantle of global leadership, at key moments, domestic dramas keep getting in the way.

The president has largely stayed out of the public eye at the summit, forgoing big public statements and leaving Friday’s leader dinner early. He’s been spending time instead by a video monitor in a room next to his hotel suite, where aides in Washington have been keeping him apprised of the back and forth of debt limit talks.

Biden held talks with Albanese in lieu of the now-scrapped visit to his country. U.S. officials said the trip would be rescheduled, and Biden has invited Albanese to Washington for a state visit as consolation for change-up.

Biden apologised for skipping Australia. Albanese said he understood the circumstances.

The leaders signed a compact pledging to deepen their partnership on developing the raw materials used in clean energy technologies — as they each seek to move supply away from reliance on China. They also issued a joint statement outlining new areas of cooperation in space, trade and defence.