Australia will avoid engaging Asean through China ‘prism’, Foreign Minister Penny Wong says
- In a lecture in Singapore, Wong said Australia is committed to ‘Asean centrality’ and would ‘find its security in Asia, not from Asia’
- China-Australia relations have deteriorated in the last two years over issues such as the origins of Covid-19, trade disputes and Beijing’s trade sanctions
In her first major speech on the new Labor administration’s policy towards Southeast Asia, Wong also said Australia was committed to the concept of Asean centrality, whereby Southeast Asia’s 10-nation bloc is put at the centre of diplomatic dealings in the region.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) is “indispensable” and gives “space to states which have a legitimate interest in the region to contribute to a strategic equilibrium”, Wong said in a lecture in Singapore organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
During a question-and-answer session, Wong was asked if there would be greater convergence of strategic interests and views of China between Australia and Southeast Asia, or whether differences between both sides about the Asian superpower will remain.
In her reply, Wong said that Australia would not navigate its relations with Asean through the “prism” of its relationship with China as doing that “would be a mistake because we share so much more”.