OPINION: Penny Wong and Anthony Albanese have avoided Paul Keating’s ideological approach to foreign policy by investing a lot of attention in the Pacific region.
. The media also reported that Australia had signed a security agreement with Vanuatu. This was all good news. It is a tribute to Wong and the Albanese government that they have invested so much of the first seven months in office in Pacific diplomacy.
Today, we have to take into account the more aggressive foreign policy of Xi Jinping. He sees the South Pacific in geopolitical terms. If he can gain a security foothold in the region, that would help reduce Australia’s influence and one by one remove the capacity of Australia and the United States to collaborate militarily in the event of a regional contingency that would suit Xi’s ambition to secure regional hegemony.
The foreign minister, on the other hand, should be prepared to visit the region frequently and invite its leaders to Australia. The personal relationship between the Australian foreign minister and key regional figures is critical.This was the problem with the Keating government. They were interested in engagement with Asia as though it was some kind of ideology and by focusing on that slogan, by implication they disengaged with the Pacific.
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