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Irwan Shah Bin Abdullah

Australia’s Attitude towards Asia

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Australia, has been “pro-Capitol Hill” since 1996.

Prime Minister John Howard who succeeded Mr. Paul Keating had no qualms in the past in declaring his government’s “pro-US” and “pro-UK” attitude. As a matter of fact, during an interview, Mr. Howard hinted that Australia could act as “US Sheriff” in the Southeast Asian region.

Not only that, he has even threatened to mount pre-emptive strikes against neighboring countries that are harboring terrorists or fanatics such as Indonesia.

The dynamics of politics does not follow any scientific principles and therefore, politics is always evolving and at times, unpredictable and unfathomable. Alliances are made or destroyed every now and then. Asia is undergoing a tremendous change – mostly in terms of economic growth.

Today, Asia has become the favorite investment playground for the industrialized nations of the west. The importance of Asia is rising and the West wants to be closely associated with Asia.

When the West is thinking like that, Australia cannot be too far away either!

Australia seems to have realized the growing importance of Asia and all of a sudden, Mr. Howard, has undergone an unbelievable metamorphosis. He is trying to become “pro – Asia” just like his predecessor, Mr. Paul Keating.

He does not want Australia to be the “US Sheriff” anymore. He wants ASEAN and the other economic powerhouses of Asia to accept Australia as their partner.

A welcome thought! This transformation of Mr. John Howard is very crucial ’s perspective. It is imperative that Australia maintain close, friendly and amiable relations with its neighboring Asian countries.

Australia would be more affected directly by what happens in Japan, Philippines, Malaysia or Indonesia than by what happens in Europe or across the Pacific!

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APEC has lost its power. It failed to deliver what it was supposed to deliver. Even Australia has lost interest in it.

Probably that is one reason why Australia wants to be a part of the EAEC even though Australia had been bitterly against EAEC in the past. This new attitude of Australia is quite smart indeed. Since Australia cannot beat the EAEC any more, it might just be better off by joining it!

Australia is very keen to join the East Asia summit. However, it is quite skeptical about signing the ASEAN’s Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. According to Australia there are certain things in the treaty that are not acceptable to it and therefore, it simply cannot sign the treaty. Other countries did not have any problem with the treaty. Surely, some of the Asian countries are watching this “do it my Way or the highway” attitude of Australia and this may not go very well with them.

By not signing the treaty Australia may be inadvertently giving reasons to the Asian countries to doubt Australia’s “newly-found friendly attitude” towards the Asian countries.

Australia must change its attitude further. It should sign the treaty and become a part of the new economic grouping. Gone are the days of APEC. If Australia does not change its attitude and sign the treaty then it might be left out. It will hurt Australia quite badly, especially economically, if it becomes a loner “down under”.

Australia should quit making fuss about the treaty and should show more eagerness to become a member of the exclusive group of nations that are set to become the future “movers and shakers” of the world.

But merely signing the treaty will not be enough. Australia should soften its “pro-Capitol Hill” further and start listening to its new Asian partners as well. Time has come for Australia to stop listening to US and UK only.

This will ensure an environment of mutual trust and cooperation between Australia and its new Asian partners. The threats of “pre-emptive” are still fresh in the minds of some of the Southeast Asian countries.

Obviously, some Asian countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and China are not too sure of Australia’s honesty when it claims that it wants to be their partner.

By lending its ears to its new Asian partners, Australia would be sending the right signals to those Asian countries that doubt its honesty. Trusts are not built overnight and Australia should not forget that.

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It will take time for some of the Asian countries to start trusting Australia wholeheartedly and consider it to be as one of their partners. But once that mutual trust among all the members falls in its place, it would surely benefit all of them, including of course, Australia.

The eighteenth and nineteenth century belonged to “Colonial Europe”, the twentieth century belonged to the United States of America but the twenty first century will belong to South and East Asia.

At least that’s what the economists are predicting. and if we follow the worldwide economic trends it seems to be true. With some of the major countries in Asia (like China, India, Japan, South Korea and ASEAN for example) becoming economic powerhouses, Asia is all set to play an active role in shaping the future of the world.

Countries that will maintain close relationships and economic cooperation with some of these Asian countries would be hugely benefited.

Australia has got a great opportunity right in its hands to become the strategic member of the right “caucus” and make itself even a stronger, better and powerful country. But to do that it has to become more “pro-Asia” and further extend its hands of mutual cooperation and trust towards the Asian countries.

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