HAS Australian premier John Howard bitten off more than he can chew? He has certainly put himself and his country's policies under the global spotlight as never before.
At home, his ratings have soared - Australians seem to like the new assertive, tough-talking Prime Minister - but in Asia, Mr Howard's popularity has reached a nadir. As his critics and political opponents have been quick to point out, Mr Howard's words and actions threaten to undermine relations - carefully cultivated over several decades - with his country's Southeast Asian neighbours.
Australia's deployment of troops to East Timor and the military leadership role it has taken on there are seen by many in the region as racist and arrogant. Commentators in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore have denounced Canberra's apparent shift in foreign policy and the new 'Howard Doctrine'.
Mr Howard's tardy denial of the words that apparently caused the biggest furore overseas - that Australia was the United States' deputy in the region - has done little to quell the storm of protest. That is hardly surprising, because what is most galling to those members of Asean who are now taking part in the East Timor military intervention, is that they have been forced to act. They have been embarrassed into breaching one of the most important tenets of the organisation: non-intervention in one another's internal affairs.
Once Australia took the morally correct action and sent troops to East Timor in response to the atrocities taking place and the mayhem that was in progress, Asean nations had no choice but to send troops too; it was either that or face the humiliation of seeing East Timor restored to order by non-Asians.
For years, Canberra has behaved in a pragmatic fashion towards the Indonesian regime - forging trade and military links, even though President Suharto's rule was anathema to everything that an advanced, democratic country like Australia stood for.
Australia managed to make this relationship fruitful, despite friction over the East Timor issue. All that pragmatic co-operation has now been reversed, and is unlikely to be re-established.