Follow-up to my previous post:
Oct 9, 2004
China, Asia issues in Australian polls
By Jeffrey Robertson
CANBERRA - Australians will vote on Saturday to choose their next prime minister, and closer ties with China and better relations with Asia are on the agenda. Regardless of who is elected, it is clear that like other regional states, Australia steadily is being drawn closer to China - and maintaining a close, especially a militarily close, relationship with the United States is only getting more difficult.
Incumbent Prime Minister John Howard and opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) leader Mark Latham have been waging a bitter campaign on key issues of security, economic performance and honesty in government, but just below the surface lies the long-simmering issue of Australia's relationship with China and the Asian region.
Australians have long struggled over how to identify themselves, being a predominantly European state on the periphery of Asia. The clash between culture and geography habitually peaks around election time. The conservative coalition of the Liberal/National parties barricade and claim for themselves the position of culture, supporting Australia's relations with that small club of distant English-speaking democracies. Opposing this, the ALP takes up the battering ram of geography, arguing for ever closer ties with China and the region. This campaign has been no different.
Prime Minister Howard of the Liberal Party has never disguised his belief that Australia's relationship with the United States is sacrosanct - a relationship he believes is based upon shared democratic values, cultural affinity and a history of joint sacrifice and aspirations. On his coming to power in 1996, commentators noted his distinct leaning toward the US in foreign-policy decision-making.
Indeed, compared with the coziness and solid relations with Asia espoused by his predecessor, Paul Keating (1991-96), John Howard seemed to have leapfrogged even Puerto Rico to claim an Australian position as primary candidate to be the next state, or territory, of the US.
Keating was a very "pro-Asia" prime minister, perhaps too far ahead of the Australian people's expectations at the time. Until relatively recently, Australia was pretty much the same as apartheid South Africa, only ending in 1974 what was known as the "White Australia" policy - an immigration policy restricting Asian immigration. In an unprecedented move, Keating concluded a security agreement with Indonesia, revolutionizing the concept of Australian defense thinking from "security from Asia" to "security within Asia".
If Labor wins, then it will be interesting to watch for similar changes in security/defense-policy thinking.
Howard committed troops to Iraq, Afghanistan
During his term, Howard has committed Australian troops to US-led missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, signed up Australia to purchase and conduct research on the US-led Joint Strike Fighter program, agreed to host US military forces on Australian bases, committed Australia to participation in the US national missile defense, and concluded the Australia-US free-trade agreement. It is of course the decision to commit forces to Iraq that continues to haunt Howard's election campaign.
Yet despite accusations to the contrary, Howard has managed to balance foreign policy between the United States and the Asian region, as demonstrated by his record in Asia. He has concluded free-trade agreements with Singapore and Thailand, and has taken the first steps toward securing further free-trade agreements with Malaysia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and China. Indeed, Howard has traveled to Asian destinations more than he has visited the US and Europe combined.
Business leaders go further, stating that it has been Howard's personal touch that has secured advantage for Australian companies in China, such as Woodside Petroleum's multibillion-dollar gas-supply deal secured after Howard's visit in May 2002.
If Howard is re-elected, there is little reason to expect any major change in Australian foreign policy toward China and the region, despite the importance of business ties with China. There was that diplomatic gaffe by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer who, visiting China in August, publicly questioned the commitment of Australia to support the United States in the event of a conflict with China over Taiwan. Howard and US Ambassador to China Clark T Randt Jr were quick to remind the Australian public that the 50-year-old security alliance between the two states obligates Australia to support the United States in the event of armed aggression.
Still, it might be Howard's relentless reinforcement of Australian ties to the United States that will cost him the election.
Opinion in Australia is divided over the prime minister's infatuation with the United States. The Australian media vary widely in their portrayal of Howard: sometimes he is the astute but perhaps overly traditional statesman acting in Australia's best interests; sometimes the Asian-hating, sycophantic deputy to a gun-slinging Texas sheriff George W Bush.
The ALP would support a more diplomatic version of the latter view. Howard has, it is claimed, squandered the opportunities for closer engagement with China and the region. His blind pursuit of the Bush agenda, the curtailing of federal funding of Asian-language programs in schools and his callous treatment of asylum seekers have done severe, some say irreparable, damage to the image of Australia in the Asian region.
The ALP contends that following the US line on international issues has become a standard response for the current government - an accusation evidenced by Australia's lonely vote along with the United States in opposition to the July United Nations resolution ordering Israel to tear down the West Bank barrier. The vote was opposed by the US, Israel, Australia, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau - in diplomatic terms adding Australia to a handful of US "yes men" in the Pacific.
Labor seeks to reintegrate Australia with Asia
Latham has stated that a key aim of his opposition ALP would be to push Australia back into Asia and reintegrate, and he has emphasized the compelling benefits of multilateralism - an approach epitomized by the choice of a Mandarin-speaking former diplomat, Kevin Rudd, as Labor's shadow foreign-affairs spokesman.
In a speech in August to the AsiaLink foundation, Rudd emphasized the importance of engagement with region. According to Rudd, the Labor approach would not only immediately re-engage with the region but also would lay the foundations for an "inter-generational" approach to strategic engagement through the funding of Asian-language programs in Australian schools.
The ALP foreign policy is one of comprehensive engagement with Asia. "We believe that Australia's economic, political and strategic future is intimately tied up with the future of our own region ... China is at the core of our policy of comprehensive regional engagement," Rudd stated in a speech on July 1 to the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China. "Australia stands ready to work with China in constructing a peaceful, prosperous and environmentally sustainable Asia-Pacific century," Rudd added.
So, whither Australia: will it maintain its present course toward the US, or head back toward China and the rest of Asia? The world will find out on Saturday.
Jeffrey Robertson is a political-affairs analyst focusing on Australian relations with Northeast Asia, currently residing in Canberra.
atimes.com |
