Australia is ASEAN’s oldest dialogue partner. Since 1974, Australia has been supporting ASEAN’s vision to create a rules-based, “inclusive,” and economically integrated regional community of states. In 2013, an Australian diplomatic representation of ASEAN was established in Jakarta, and its responsibilities include the promotion of Australian interests in ASEAN and in ASEAN-led processes. Since 2014, Australia and ASEAN have formally been strategic partners – with a focus on collaboration in areas of policy, security, and the economy. According to the 2016 Australian census, almost 900,000 Australians have ASEAN heritage – every year, Australia welcomes more than a million visitors from ASEAN states, and vice versa three million Australians visited ASEAN countries in 2016. Currently, about 100,000 students from ASEAN countries study in Australia, and in the past four years 8,000 of the total 18,000 students who are accredited under the Australian government’s New Colombo Plan have started their studies, internships, or similar activities in ASEAN countries.
Southeast Asia Is a Key Region in Australia’s Foreign Policy
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has, in his fundamental foreign policy orientation, always attributed great strategic importance to ASEAN – the community as a whole is one of Australia’s three most important trade partners. In September 2016, when the Australian Prime Minister accepted an invitation to the first ASEAN-Australia Biennial Summit in Laos, he couldn’t have foreseen how important the partnership with ASEAN would become. The summit took place shortly after the USA decreed punitive tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, and one year after the USA had turned its back from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. The summit also coincided with the lifting of term limits for Chinese presidents, as decided by the People’s Congress. As President Xi Jinping consolidates his power, China’s military ascent continues. All these developments lead to ASEAN’s increased importance in the region. At a time of uncertainty in foreign policy and instability, global powers such as China, India, and Japan are attempting to gain more influence in Southeast Asia. Experts consider ASEAN to be a key for Australia to reestablish a rules-oriented order in the region. In a widely acclaimed speech given during the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore last year, the Australian Prime Minister described ASEAN as the region’s “strategic convener.” Last year, the Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop put ASEAN’s leadership position in the region – focusing particularly on the ASEAN charter and a rules-based order – at the center of her Fullerton Lecture speech which she gave at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in Singapore.
The Australian government's new Foreign Policy White Paper of the Australian government, which was published in November of last year, places its regional focus on the Indo-Pacific, and at the same time recognises ASEAN’s success in creating stability and wealth in the region for the past 50 years. Southeast Asia’s geographical location explains Australia’s ambitions. Southeast Asia is a key region for geostrategic competition in the Indo-Pacific – the region connects the Pacific with the Indian Ocean and contains some of the most important trade routes. ASEAN has a central role in the convocation of regional forums such as the East Asian Summit. The White Paper distinguishes Australia’s priorities when it comes to bilateral relationships with individual states in Southeast Asia as well as with the ASEAN community as a whole, thereby strengthening the engagement with a “resilient” Southeast Asia. This is the context in which Australia’s new strategic partnership agreement with Vietnam exists. The ASEAN summit in March was already described as “historic” in the White Paper, since it symbolised the strengthening of the strategic partnership with ASEAN on the basis of mutual interests. The summit highlighted the commitment to ASEAN and the ongoing relationship to Southeast Asia’s individual states. One key element of the strategic partnership is the strengthening of security cooperation with Singapore, which includes the development of mutual military training areas in Australia. The Australian government wants to promote defense engagements with Southeast Asia, including multilateral measures such as the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting, the ADMM Plus Meeting of the ministers of defence. A close cooperation with Singapore and Malaysia through the Five Power Defence Arrangements is an important component of the new Australian engagement with Southeast Asia’s security policy. The new direction of Australia’s foreign policy and the corresponding increased importance of ASEAN has been dubbed an “ASEAN flavoured” foreign policy by some experts.
Some analysts are not satisfied with the objectives put forth in the most recent White Paper. John Blaxland noted that the regional interdependences in Southeast Asia are given too little attention in favour of focusing on the Indo-Pacific and the Quad – the informal strategic dialogue between Australia, the USA, India, and Japan. But in comparison to the 2012 White Paper called “Australia in the Asian Century,” it is considered a step forward. The significance of the ASEAN region is also recognised across party lines: “ASEAN is critical for Australia’s security,” said Penny Wong, the opposition leader in the Australian senate and the “shadow foreign minister” of the Labor party.
The Results of the Special Summit
According to the motto “enhancing regional collaboration to strengthen our security and prosperity,” the Australian-ASEAN summit took place along two different thematic lines – one business summit and one counter-terrorism conference. The latter was pegged to the ASEAN-Australian Joint Declaration for Cooperation to Combat International Terrorism from 2016, and aims to strengthen regional connectivity and cooperation in fighting terrorism and violent extremism.
In his opening speech for the counter-terrorism conference on March 17 in Sydney, Peter Dutton, Minister of the new comprehensive Australian Ministry of Home Affairs, highlighted ASEAN’s key role in the region: ”ASEAN is our key partner in the security of our region.” In a resolute speech, the minister pointed to the many threats to both domestic and international security, focusing on terrorist threats that have increased due to the use of new technologies and cyberspace. The recognition that national security cannot exist without regional security – they are complementary imperatives – causes Australia and the ASEAN-states to grow closer. “Terrorism and violent extremism transcend national borders… countering the threat requires a united and cohesive regional effort involving coordination between our respective national security and law enforcement agencies,” Dutton said.
The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in fighting terrorism, thwarting terrorist financing, and stopping violent extremism is being called “historic” by its participants. The MoU includes very concrete measures, such as technical cooperation, exchanging best practices in legislative processes, regional dialogue, and workshops regarding new ways to stop online radicalisation, among other things. Within the framework of the business summit, three strategic points were set: the first was the CEO forum for strengthening economic integration, digital transformation, future sources of energy, tourism development, and the development of the aviation sector; the second was a SME conference to promote small and medium-sized businesses; and third was a special initiative to promote women in economics. Furthermore, ASEAN-Australia introduced a new initiative regarding smart cities, which will focus on sustainable development and regional economic integration.
The Threat of North Korea
In the 29 points encased in the Sydney Declaration, which the Australian Prime Minister and the ASEAN heads of states agreed to on March 18th, highlighted the tensions on the Korean peninsula and the threat North Korea’s nuclear program presents to regional and global peace and security. An appeal was also made to North Korea to follow the demands set out in the UN Security Council’s resolutions. In the mutual statement, China isn’t being directly criticised, but the importance of “non-militarisation” is emphasised, therefore indirectly referencing China’s expansion of military bases in the South China Sea. “We reaffirm the importance of maintaining and promoting peace, stability, maritime safety and security, freedom of navigation, and overflight in the region. We emphasise the importance of non-militarisation and the need to enhance mutual trust and confidence, exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities and avoid actions that may complicate the situation.” Furthermore, the “code of conduct” in the South China Sea is also emphasised. The bilateral and regional mechanisms in defence cooperation were also expanded upon at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the ADMM plus.
Under the chapter “Future Prosperity,” comprehensive measures for deepening ASEAN-Australian eco-political integration and improving connectivity in infrastructure areas were laid out alongside suggestions to improve dialogue mechanisms regarding cybersecurity. Before the summit, Tobias Feakin, the cyber ambassador of the Australian foreign office, emphasised in an interview that cyberspace’s complexity required stronger international attention and that therefore cybersecurity was a relevant and central topic for the ASEAN-Australian summit.
There Is a Need for Transformation
The summit confirmed anew that Southeast Asia works as Australia’s door to Asia, while Australia functions as a stabilising anchor for ASEAN states. The continuity and stability of Australia’s foreign policy toward Southeast Asia, anchored in the rules-based order and respect toward international law, attest to this. Now it’s time to not only find answers to superpower competition in the region, but to also define how the ASEAN state community can reinvent itself in order to remain relevant for individual members and overcome current challenges. Mutual security is in the best interest of every ASEAN country, and it’s in the mutual interest of individual ASEAN-states and Australia, as well as in the regional interest to strengthen ASEAN as an institution.
The original article has already been published on: www.kas.de
About the Author:
Dr. Beatrice Gorawantschy is the head of the Australia and Pacific regional program at the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation.