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Su-Lin Tan

You can’t fault Canberra for trying to court Southeast Asia.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong was back in Vietnam last week, after visiting last year. Her boss, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was there in April, as was her colleague, Trade Minister Don Farrell.
Within 15 months of the Albanese government taking office, trips were also made to Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Laos.
Canberra has also been using the catchphrase “Asean centrality”, meaning it recognises the Association of Southeast Asian Nations bloc as the “dominant platform” for dealing with the region’s challenges. Read: Asean matters.
Australia will avoid engaging Asean through China ‘prism’, Penny Wong says
But why all this language, and why now?
It feels like a paradox that Australia should court Southeast Asia.
Being so close geographically, and given the large influx of migrants to Australia from the region, the two should be as thick as thieves since diplomatic relations were established in the 1970s.
A Southeast Asian migrant in Australia I spoke to said: “It’s like dating someone for years and then suddenly being asked to go steady.”
Canberra is expected to unveil a new economic strategy for Southeast Asia at the Asean summit in Jakarta next week, that will outline how Australia will engage economically with the region.
‘Lazy investments’ hinder deeper Australia-Asean business ties: experts
This sounds familiar, like a repeat Valentine's Day gift. Weren’t there already such blueprints, like the “Australia in the Asian Century” white paper from 2012?
Confused, I sought the views of Southeast Asian-Australians, from academics to businesspeople to friends who, like my family, moved to Australia when it “first” opened up to Asia in the 1980s and 1990s – during the Hawke-Keating Labor governments.
Some themes emerged.
Southeast Asia, it seems, is topic du jour in Australia depending on the government of the day, and if it has strategic importance, such as now when it’s fashionable to win friends amid a clash of powers.
A Malaysian-Australian IT consultant who has worked in both countries for the past 40 years, tells me Australia’s attitude towards Southeast Asia yo-yos so much he rarely cares what Canberra says.
Another migrant business-person tells me the current Labor government appears to be righting the diplomatic wrong left by previous centre-right Coalition governments that were less interested in Southeast Asia. It is “restating its objectives” as a new government, and as shown by the Hawke-Keating era, Labor does see importance in Southeast Asia and Asia as a whole.
Canberra does have some desire to be part of the region, hence its renewed pursuit. But how much?

When things start and stop so often, the renewed attention comes across as being skin-deep. Well-known Malaysian-Australian academic James Chin says just as Australia and some other nations do not take Asean seriously, Asean does not take Australia seriously either.
“Since Australia is neither here nor there, [Asean thinks] it’s just nice to keep them onside,” he said.
So they both tell each other what they want to hear, cut ribbons and smile.
But there may be hope yet, as Canberra does have some desire to be part of the region, hence its renewed pursuit.
But how much? So far, some see that desire as weak, with actions rarely matching policies.

Take visas for example.
A Malaysian property developer based in Australia says his colleagues in Kuala Lumpur see getting an Australian business visa like winning the lottery.
In Southeast Asia, it’s common for businesspeople to be in one country in the morning and another later in the day.
“In the region, you just get on the plane tomorrow. For Australia, you sometimes need to wait for months for a visa. For my colleagues, Australia is a foreign faraway country, like going to Europe,” my developer contact said, adding that Australian policies about visas can be a “red herring”.
“On the one hand, the department of trade wants to promote the region, but on the ground, Australian immigration seems to view Malaysians suspiciously.”
Last year, Canberra copped some complaints from Malaysia about long visa wait times.
In theory, it made sense for the two to be close, like children of two close families dating.
But like all dating reality, sometimes common sense does not prevail.
Su-Lin Tan is a Correspondent at the Post’s Asia desk.


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Australia

Australia wants to court Southeast Asia, but its affections seem to be skin-deep

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong meets her Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son in Hanoi on August 22. Photo: AFP 

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (front) at the opening of the East Asia Summit in Cambodia in November 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE

South China Sea: as Australia strengthens ties with the Philippines, it’s wading even further into dangerous waters

Australian and Filipino Forces participating in a large-scale combined amphibious assault exercise on August 25. Philippine DND Defense Communications Service and AFP Public Affairs Office via AP

Philippine soldiers take position on a beach during a joint exercise between Australian and Philippine troops at a naval base on August 25. Photo: AFP

Australian and Filipino troops held exercises on August 25 near flashpoint South China Sea waters claimed by China. Photo: AFP

‘Lazy investments’ among weak links in Australia-Asean business ties, industry insiders say

A gantry crane moves a shipping container at Port Botany in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Photo: Bloomberg

Participants at the Australia-Asean Business Forum in Sydney, Australia on Monday. Photo: Su-Lin Tan

Workers move blocks of ice into a storage unit in Bangkok, Thailand, in April 2023. Southeast Asian investors say they look forward to more technology sharing, such as technology useful to climate change projects, with Australian counterparts. Photo: AFP

Australia, Indonesia ‘share a future’, Penny Wong assures youth amid concerns about gaps in bilateral ties

Indonesian youth sing to Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong during a dialogue session in Jakarta on  Wednesday. Photo: Handout

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong has sought to foster closer ties with Asean and Southeast Asia since taking up office last May. Photo: Pool/AFP

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong (centre) takes a picture before the official opening of the Aus4Asean Future programmes office on Wednesday. Photo: Twitter/@Asean

Australia-Asean trade ties set for turning point: ‘now, there’s a different appetite’

Shipping containers at the Port of Brisbane in Australia. Photo: Bloomberg

Trucks at a textile sales hub in Jakarta. Indonesia did not attract any direct investments from Australia between 2018 and 2022, according to a recent report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Photo: AFP

A container ship is seen at Port Botany in Sydney. Two-way trade between Australia and Asean reached A$150 billion in 2021-22. Photo: Bloomberg

Farmers using a harvester to cut rice in a field in Can Tho, Vietnam. Australian company Hillridge Technology recently launched a new agricultural insurance product that protects farmers in Vietnam from the risks of drought. Photo: AFP

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei at The Lodge in Canberra, Australia, on June 19, 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE

Australia’s Aukus deal safe for now, but split within Labor reveals ‘grave problems ahead’

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left), with US President Joe Biden and Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during an Aukus event in San Diego, California in March 2023. Photo: AP

Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles. Photo: EPA-EFE

Two Australian Collins class submarines at HMAS Stirling Royal Australian Navy base in Perth, Western Australia. Photo: EPA-EFE

This Week in Asia

Opinion

Canberra will announce a new Southeast Asia economic strategy at the Asean summit, in a push that looks similar to a white paper made in 2012
It appears Southeast Asia is topic du jour in Australia depending on the government of the day, and if it has strategic importance


Canberra’s affection towards Southeast Asia seems to change depending on the government in power, and if it has strategic importance.


Diplomacy

Asean

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

As I see it