Australia ‘buying US hegemony’ in region, ex-PM Paul Keating says as he slams nation’s China policy

Keating said the Asean-Australia summit showed countries in the region were not doing Washington’s bidding to contain Beijing
Southeast Asian nations typically avoid a zero-sum position between superpowers US and China, analysts say, despite growing Chinese influence in the region

Australia

Su-Lin Tanin Singapore

Published: 5:30pm, 6 Mar 2024

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Former Australian prime minister Paul Keating’s tirade against his country’s China policy and claims that Asean nations are more balanced towards Beijing do not reflect the full picture of foreign policy in the region, analysts say.

At the three-day summit Asean-Australia special summit in Melbourne that began on Monday, Keating argued that Southeast Asian nations did not kowtow to the United States’ bidding to contain China.

His blistering statement on Tuesday focused attention on Asean’s foreign policy of China at the summit, as he accused Canberra of “buying US hegemony” in the region and warned that other nations were not interested in the same thing.

Analysts who spoke to This Week in Asia said countries in Southeast Asia preferred not to be seen as “taking sides” between the two superpowers, though growing Chinese influence had sown some distrust in the region.

Drawing on Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s comments during a summit press conference on Monday that the West’s China-phobia should not be imposed on Malaysia, Keating said unlike Australia, Malaysia was unwilling to do the US’ bidding to ring-fence China.

“That difficult task, the maintenance of US strategic hegemony, is being left to supplicants like us,” Keating said.

“What this week’s Asean meeting makes clear is that Australia and Australian policy is at odds with the general tenor of Asean’s perceived strategic interests – that is, interests which relate to China and the United States and relations between them.”

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Australia’s concerns with China’s – and the US’ – foreign influence have reached fever pitch, amid questions about China’s spying on Australia and protests against the US government’s lobbying in Canberra to oppose China and engage in wars.

These issues formed the bedrock of Keating’s comments, underscored by Australia’s spy chief’s allegations last week that a former politician had betrayed the country to another, which was eventually identified in a “leak” in the media as China.

Keating criticised Australian intelligence agencies for meddling in the nation’s foreign affairs and for showing “utter contempt for the so-called stabilisation process” with China that the Anthony Albanese government had progressed since coming into office in 2022, following years of tensions between the two countries.

“The anti-China Australian strategic policy establishment was feeling some slippage in its mindless pro-American stance and decided some new China rattling was overdue,” he said in his statement.

It was a wake-up call for Canberra when Malaysia’s Anwar told Australia on Monday not to piggyback Australia’s problems with China onto Asean, according to Keating.

But not all Asean nations shared those views, reflecting the complexity of the Asean-China relationship.

Singapore for example extended its support for Australia’s Aukus security arrangements with the US and the UK, which included boosting Australia’s defence with controversial nuclear-powered submarines, aimed at countering China’s military build-up.

During a press conference on Tuesday, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Australia had an important security role in the region, referencing its history in fighting wars and conflicts in the region.

“We welcome Australian ships and aircraft to visit Singapore, which they do. And I’ve said before, and I repeated to the prime minister on this visit, that when the Australian new submarines are ready, we welcome them to visit Changi Naval Base in due course,” Lee said.

The Philippines also pushed back on China’s aggression in the South China Sea during the conference but reinforced a need to continue to work and negotiate with China.

Hadrien Saperstein, a Southeast Asia specialist at the Asia Centre think tank in France, said Keating’s comments confirmed the status quo of Southeast Asian nations, that is to avoid a zero-sum position between superpowers.

Aside from the Philippines, which has started to see China’s incursions in the South China Sea through the lens of a security threat, this was not the case with other nations.

“Just about half of the small states within Southeast Asia hold a continentalist view of the high-seas and thus merely designate the South China Sea dispute as a high-risk issue – and not a high-threat issue – that can be simply mitigated through the use of maritime diplomatic initiatives,” he said.

China’s coastguard vessels deploy water cannons at the Philippine military chartered Unaizah May 4 (right) during its supply mission to Second Thomas Shoal in the disputed South China Sea. Photo: AFP

Other analysts say Keating’s comments do not reflect the full picture of Southeast Asia’s security concerns.

China’s aggression in the South China Sea had sown “strategic distrust” among Southeast Asian nations, and they have continued to seek military support with the US and countries like Japan and Australia, said Rahman Yaacob, a research fellow in the Southeast Asia Programme at the Lowy Institute.

On Aukus, behind public statements of concern, some nations have expressed an acceptance of Aukus as part of Australia’s defence strategy.

“Keating has to understand that certain Southeast Asian countries may express certain views publicly, as they would like to be perceived as not taking sides in the US-China rivalry. Privately, they may hold an opposite position which may be more in line with Australia’s stance,” he said.