Beef up Australia-Asean friendship
Australia needs to treat Asean more than as a necessary piece in a broader strategy to balance China.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Tumbull rolled out the red carpet for the leaders of Asean member countries two months ago. The first Australia-Asean Summit to be held “Down Under” ended with a commitment to strengthening cooperation in areas of economic ties, development initiatives and education. Such statements are nothing short of unsurprising between Asean and its dialogue partners. Some would even discount it as a typical talkfest. What was surprising, however, was when Indonesian President Joko Widodo seemed to welcome the possibility of Australia joining the 10-country regional grouping.
Opening membership to Australia seems at odds with the first requirement for admission — to be geographically located in the Southeast Asia region — as stated in the Asean Charter. It does not seem right especially in light of Timor-Leste’s membership application which has been pending for over eight years with no end in sight. Whatever the case, Australia would be pleased with Indonesia’s gesture even though Canberra has no official intention to become a member country.
On the sidelines of concerns over both the growing influence of China and US President Donald Trump’s unpredictability, Canberra seems to be up-scaling its relationship with others in the region. Asean — which is estimated to become the world’s fourth-largest economy by 2050 — undoubtedly presents a regional powerhouse in Southeast Asia. But others are sceptical — by no means for the first time — whether Australia would see Asean as a congenial partner on a substantial basis.
To be fair, Canberra supports a series of development and security initiatives with a total value of more than A$5 million (121.8 million baht) per year for Asean. With the help of the the Asean-Australia-New Zealand FTA, trade relations are on the rise. Canberra is, in fact, the longest-serving dialogue partner of Asean which started knotting diplomatic ties in 1974. In 2014, the relationship was elevated to a strategic partnership. Yet, it has arguably not achieved much in the past few years.
Canberra’s diplomatic frictions with its closest neighbours in the region have a say on this. For example, despite the heartwarming words from the current president of Indonesia, the history of Jakarta-Canberra relations has been characterised by frequent diplomatic spats. Jakarta resented Canberra’s involvement in its internal issues over Timor-Leste’s separation, West Papua’s independence movement and the infamous spying scandal.
At the same time, regardless of traditionally amiable relations, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s no show at the summit demonstrated the changing diplomatic landscape between Canberra and Manila. It is likely that Mr Duterte wanted to avoid being questioned by Canberra over his controversial “War on Drugs”. While it may be argued that this change in diplomatic landscape is only temporary and largely attributed to the personality of the Philippine leader, it also indicates that Canberra does not have a strong foothold in Southeast Asia. While these diplomatic relations tend to wax and wane, one label that has stuck is that of Canberra being “the sheriff” of the US. The reason is that the country lacks the culture to pursue an active security policy.
Unlike China and India, Asean does not have a high profile among Australians too. Knowledge about the region is said to be relatively low among ordinary Australians. Southeast Asians, thus, feel that Australia is more like a neighbour-stranger to the region.
Canberra realises the underlying issues. The security, trade and investment, and peopleto-people connectivity have been broadening in scope. The New Colombo plan sets more scholarship programmes to promote people-to-people contacts. Progress has been made, but Australia needs more work to show its readiness to place itself in the regional architecture. It is time to invest in exercising leadership in fortifying an open, rule-based Indo-Pacific region. That being said, Australia needs to treat Asean more than as a necessary piece in a broader strategy to balance China. It needs to show that the partnership has great regional and global value in its own right. The enhanced relations would have much to gain for both parties, both of which are working to diversify their strategic partnerships beyond reliance on China and the US.
Today, decades of unipolarity are giving away to a noticeable multipolarity. It is the perfect time for Australia to beef up its proactive presence with Asean in the wider Indo-Pacific region. A solid partnership would help to move forward against any strong current coming with the changing geopolitical landscape.