{"id":5704,"date":"2019-04-11T15:00:25","date_gmt":"2019-04-11T05:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/?p=5704"},"modified":"2019-04-11T08:00:42","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T22:00:42","slug":"regional-wrap-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/regional-wrap-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Regional wrap"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last fortnight witnessed a few key developments in the Indo-Pacific region. The most significant one for Australia, was the Morrison government\u2019s announcement<\/a> of a $44 million National Foundation for Australia-China relations to deepen bilateral engagement in private sector, NGOs, government agencies and cultural organisations. In Foreign Minister Marise Payne\u2019s words, the aim is \u2018to turbo-charge our national effort in engaging China\u2019. This is the latest Australian overture to Beijing, since Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull launched<\/a> a bid to \u2018reset\u2019 relations with the People\u2019s Republic of China in September last year. Nonetheless, Australia has displayed a clear-eyed approach to China and despite the so-called reset, has taken steps to secure its own strategic interests vis-\u00e0-vis Beijing, such as the decision<\/a> to prevent the Chinese company CK Infrastructure from gaining a majority stake in one of our main gas networks.<\/p>\n

Our Trans-Tasman neighbour New Zealand, however, is culpable of trying to appease China. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visited<\/a> China last week, where she reassured Beijing that her country wouldn\u2019t discriminate against Chinese companies, in a marked reference to Huawei and ZTE. After the meeting, Chinese President Xi Jinping remarked<\/a> that China-New Zealand relations \u2018have become one of the closest between China and Western developed countries\u2019. She was criticised because she didn\u2019t publicly talk about or apply pressure on China with regard to its incarceration of millions of Uighur Muslims; Ardern had very recently earned global praise for her compassionate handling of the Christchurch terror attack and its aftermath. On New Zealand\u2019s participation in China\u2019s trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, Ardern is reported to have remarked that Wellington \u2018does not pick sides\u2019, referring to US, Australia and India\u2019s opposition to the mega-initiative.<\/p>\n

The Australian government released its budget last fortnight. For the purposes of our discussion, it\u2019s worth noting that the government has increased funding for counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence operations. There\u2019s also been an increase in the defence budget, in keeping with the goals set out<\/a> in the 2016 Australian Defence White Paper. However, foreign aid has taken a substantial hit<\/a>, putting \u2018Australia even further away from international goals to commit 0.7% of gross national income to foreign aid\u2019. Australia has dropped in foreign aid rankings among OECD nations from 13th<\/sup> to 19th<\/sup> position. The aid budget has seen another change<\/a>, with the majority of resources now to be diverted from Asia to the Pacific. Experts lament that this might \u2018risk making Australia irrelevant in Asia\u2019.<\/p>\n

India has announced<\/a> that it will boycott this year\u2019s Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, in protest against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which violates its sovereign claims over Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. This comes amid India\u2019s overall tactical policy of reset with China, in place since the Wuhan summit between Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping in April last year. Nonetheless, New Delhi will send<\/a> two of its warships, INS Kolkata and INS Shakti to the Chinese navy\u2019s 70th<\/sup> anniversary celebrations later this month, even as the US has decided to boycott the event.<\/p>\n

Following New Delhi\u2019s successful anti-satellite missile test last month, it\u2019s been revealed that India had originally conducted<\/a> a test on 12th<\/sup> February but it had failed. NASA condemned<\/a> the space debris created by India\u2019s test, and suspended cooperation with India\u2019s International Space Research Organisation, which it ultimately resumed after directions from the White House.<\/p>\n

Philippines\u2019 President Rodrigo Duterte is facing a popular backlash<\/a> after his \u2018weak response\u2019 to China\u2019s usurpation of Filipino rights in the South China Sea. It\u2019s reported<\/a> that hundreds of Chinese vessels have been sighted off the disputed Pagasa or Thitu Island since January this year. Duterte is accused of setting aside the territorial dispute to pursue friendly relations with Beijing. In response to the recent provocation, Duterte threatened military action if Chinese ships touched the island. The US, meanwhile, has stepped in to strengthen ties with its Asian ally and Filipino foreign affairs secretary Teodoro Locsin recently remarked<\/a> that Washington \u2018\u2026will remain our only military ally. We don\u2019t need any other.\u2019 In March this year, the US had reassured<\/a> the Philippines that it would come to its help if tensions flared in the South China Sea, under the terms of its military alliance.<\/p>\n

Maldives has witnessed yet another successful democratic churn, with its largely free and fair parliamentary elections yielding unanimous support to the current president\u2019s Maldivian Democratic Party. Maldives has a presidential form of government and the recent elections were US equivalent of the Congressional elections. Interestingly, the incumbent president, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has won support on his mandate to reduce the island nation\u2019s dependence on China to avoid its debt trap. The leader of the MDP, Mohammed Nasheed, who was in exile for the last few years, has now returned to the country. Both Nasheed and Solih are in favour of strengthening relations with Maldives\u2019 traditional security provider, India. New Delhi granted aid<\/a> worth $1.4 billion to the Maldives in December last year, shortly after Solih\u2019s victory in the presidential elections.<\/p>\n

On another note, Japan announced the name of its new imperial era<\/a>, \u2018Reiwa\u2019, which would begin on the 1st<\/sup> of May after Prince Naruhito will take over the reigns from Emperor Akihito.<\/p>\n

Significance for Australia<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The announcement of the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations is a welcome step taken by the Morrison government. However, as Michael Shoebridge points out<\/a>, any engagement with China should reflect the geo-strategic reality of Beijing\u2019s emergence as a challenge to the rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region. Australia\u2019s policy on China, he writes, \u2018needs to be able to manage both the panda and the dragon\u2019. Australia has nonetheless displayed overall policy prudence on Huawei and other decisions, New Zealand\u2019s drift towards Beijing, might be disconcerting for Canberra. As a fellow member of the Five Eyes alliance, Wellington would risk making itself vulnerable to Chinese espionage, jeopardising the security of the US-led intelligence-sharing partnership.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s budget has been received with positive feedback; however, our foreign aid cuts would severely undercut our ability to project influence in developing countries and deliver a blow to our soft power. This is even more unfortunate given that we have a budget surplus and a robustly growing economy.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s policy on the BRI would lend some reassurance to Australia as we\u2019re on the same page on opposing opaque Chinese investments and creation of debt traps in developing countries. As we seek to build stronger relations with India in the Indo-Pacific, New Delhi\u2019s consistent policy on the BRI creates further grounds for deepening cooperation between our two democracies.<\/p>\n

The growing tensions between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea are a cause for deep concern to Australia. As a US ally, Australia would find itself drawn to any conflict between the US and China in the region and that would present Canberra with stark choices. Australia would hope for a peaceful settlement to the disputes but should prepare for any eventualities given the mercurial personalities of Duterte and Xi.<\/p>\n

Maldives\u2019 democratic turn-around in recent months, after a long period of political instability would be welcome to Australia. The case offers hope for the ability of smaller nations to push back against China\u2019s attempts to buy undue influence through the BRI, and provides a positive reinforcement of the place of democracy and the rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region.<\/p>\n

AUTHOR<\/div>\n

Aakriti Bachhawat<\/strong>\u00a0is a Researcher with the Defence and Strategy team at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and Research Assistant at the Griffith Asia Institute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last fortnight witnessed a few key developments in the Indo-Pacific region. The most significant one for Australia, was the Morrison government\u2019s announcement of a $44 million National Foundation for Australia-China relations to deepen bilateral engagement in private sector, NGOs, government agencies and cultural organisations. In Foreign Minister Marise Payne\u2019s words, the aim is \u2018to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":4032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[245,246,247,248],"tags":[716,944,512,690,535,917],"class_list":["post-5704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-china-and-north-east-asia","category-india-and-south-asia","category-indonesia-and-southeast-asia","category-png-and-the-pacific","tag-aakriti-bachhawat","tag-australia-china-relations","tag-india","tag-maldives","tag-new-zealand","tag-tibet"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"Jill Moriarty","yoast_head":"\nRegional wrap | Griffith Asia Insights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The last fortnight witnessed a few key developments in the Indo-Pacific region. 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One of the most important, and yet subtle developments this fortnight was a shift in Australia\u2019s position on the ongoing border tensions between India and China.","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/category\/publication\/commentary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Griffith Asia Institute - Regional Wrap 54","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/02\/REGIONAL-WRAP-900.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/02\/REGIONAL-WRAP-900.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/02\/REGIONAL-WRAP-900.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/02\/REGIONAL-WRAP-900.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5292,"url":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/asiainsights\/australia-should-brace-for-a-volatile-year-in-foreign-policy-in-2019\/","url_meta":{"origin":5704,"position":1},"title":"Australia should brace for a volatile year in foreign policy in 2019","author":"Griffith Asia Institute","date":"4 January 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"SUSAN HARRIS RIMMER | By the end of 2019 we should be able to assess how Australia is travelling with the grand plan laid out in the\u00a02017 Foreign Policy White Paper. In this, an election year, I examine the status of our most important international relationships. 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Since diplomatic relations were established in 1946 the two countries have had strong people-to-people links, sustained development cooperation, deep economic ties and robust security cooperation. 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