Our place in the region

Policing the region

It is no longer economics alone that influences decisions. Australia may find its days of “white” rule about to be subsumed by a Latin-Arabian-Asian dominance. That would fit an Asia-oriented foreign policy but would also mean taking sides against the US and the West. A choice will have to be made because you cannot please everyone.

Australia takes part in regional forums, such as APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) and ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) Regional Forum (ARF). But these organisations do not handle local conflicts. The UN remains the only institution that can go into a problem situation with any credibility. Certainly it is not Australia’s role to police the Pacific, or Asia.

One forum for exchanges where Australia could play a useful role is in the Pacific Islands Forum, an inter-governmental consultative organisation for co-operation among the independent countries of the Pacific Ocean. Founded in 1971 as the South Pacific Forum, the name was changed in 2000. Member states are: Australia, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

However, it is widely said that the powerful entities of Australia (and New Zealand) have mis-used the forum for their own ends.

Over the years Australia has devoted particular attention to relations with the countries of ASEAN - Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Brunei, and the island states of the South Pacific. Australia has acted as an active participant in ARF, aimed at regional co-operation on security issues.

In September 1999, acting under a UN Security Council mandate, Australia led an international coalition to restore order in East Timor when Indonesia withdrew from that territory.

Australia was a participant at the ASEAN-sponsored East Asia Summit in 2005 but Australia's place at the summit was only gained after an agreement to reverse its policy and sign ASEAN's Treaty of Amity and Co-operation. Australia had been reluctant to sign the treaty out of concern about how it would affect Australia's obligation under other treaty arrangements, notably ANZUS - which involves the US.

Trade agreements

Trade agreements between Australia and the bigger Asian powers affect the lesser developed economies of Asia and the Pacific. Fiji’s garment industry, for example, is threatened by a free trade agreement between Australia and China claims Ramesh Solanki, president of Fiji Textile Clothing and Footwear.

Employment and export revenues have registered a downward slide in the textile sector for the past five years in a row, he said. The textile industry provides employment to poor women who will find it difficult to get job elsewhere if the industry collapsed, Mr Solanki said, “It will create further social problems and deride our poverty alleviation program”.

Such predicaments of lesser developed nations have to be born in mind should Australia decide to take the Asia route to its future. China may make a worthy friend but will also be a formidable foe. Yet even as a friend of Australia - meaning you tend to back friend’s positions and give them the benefit of the doubt - there is a need to keep a balance in general relations with all the countries of Asia-Pacific.

Australia is in a position to bring to the table ethical values that further the good life without compromising weaker states. What a fine and worthy stance.