March 7, 2024
JAKARTA – Australia is investing seriously in its relationship with ASEAN, for good reason: It sees its future, and hence its prosperity, as very much tied to the region immediately to its north.
So it’s no surprise that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese went all out this week in hosting Southeast Asian leaders at the ASEAN-Australian Special Summit to mark the 50th anniversary of their relationship.
A golden anniversary wouldn’t be complete without a “gift”, and the Australian premier announced a A$2 billion (US$1.2 billion) fund to boost trade and investment with ASEAN.
The money is intended to fund myriad projects, including economic infrastructure development and the region’s transition to a green economy, as part of Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 unveiled last September.
It’s only right that ASEAN reciprocates this neighborly gesture to the greatest extent possible.
Australia is the first country it invited to become a dialogue partner in 1974, and its list of partners has grown to 10 countries since then. Australia is also one of the few countries with which ASEAN has a comprehensive strategic partnership.
While the regional bloc’s ties with Australia were never meant to be exclusive, an inaugural partner is always special. So the question is, are we as invested in Australia as Australia is in us?
No relationship can last if it’s not mutual. Both parties still have a lot of work to do to prevent this from becoming one-sided, and perhaps more so on ASEAN’s part.
The Oceanian country is becoming more and more integrated with Asia, and has come a long way from the old days of being an exclusively British colony.
A 2021 census shows that Asians accounted for 17.4 percent of the population, including 6.5 percent from South and Central Asia, 6.4 percent from Northeast Asia and 4.5 percent from Southeast Asia. The Australian economy has also become more interwoven with and more dependent on Asia, including ASEAN countries.
The security sector is where ASEAN and Australia are not fully in sync. They may share a perception that developments in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait pose serious threats to regional security, but they differ in their approach, particularly with regard to China.
For historical reasons but also its strategic interests, Australia’s security policy is very much aligned with the West. It is an active player in alliances designed to contain the rise of China, including the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) with the United States, Japan and India, and the more recent trilateral AUKUS security partnership with the United Kingdom and the US.
ASEAN does not have a coherent, common policy on China, and each member state pursues ties that are in line with its national interest. Laos and Cambodia are aligned with China, while the Philippines is increasingly aligning itself with the West following prolonged pressures and threats from China over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
Other ASEAN countries are sitting on the fence, refusing to take sides in the rising great power competition between the US and China.
The geopolitical environment in the Indo-Pacific is changing rapidly, but some ASEAN countries (Indonesia, for one) believe that staying nonaligned is the best course because this allows the bloc to collectively play a mediating role. ASEAN centrality in the Info-Pacific has never been more important in this contemporary environment, and impartiality is essential if it is to play an effective role.
But even with its members’ differing approaches to China, ASEAN, whether as a group or as individual members, can foster closer security cooperation with Australia.
Australia is already conducting joint maritime patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea. At the summit in Melbourne, Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced a A$64 million fund over the next four years to expand Australia’s maritime cooperation with ASEAN countries.
There is still much work to do in the Australia-ASEAN relationship. Despite our differences, the last five decades have helped us build the mutual trust that is essential for our next 50 years together.