Australia’s ASEAN Opportunity

Australia’s ongoing engagement with Southeast Asia was brought to the fore in March with the ASEAN-Australian Special Summit held in Sydney. It was the first time the leaders of the ASEAN nations visited Australia as a group (minus Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who did not attend), and demonstrated the increasing closeness of the regional neighborhood after Australia was elevated to a “Strategic Partner” with ASEAN in 2014.

Although frequently considered “underdone,” Australia’s engagement with the Southeast Asian region has improved. Taken as a bloc, the ASEAN countries form Australia’s third largest trading partner after China and the European Union. Although ASEAN is not a trading entity itself, this framing demonstrates Australia’s improved economic relations within Southeast Asia, acknowledging that the region is no longer just a geographic security concern for Australia, but one with an economic calculus as well.

While the nature of ASEAN and its consensus model among 10 highly diverse states means that there will rarely be any dramatic official announcements made by the organization, Indonesian President Joko Widodo did cause some intrigue with speculation about Australia become a formal member of ASEAN. In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald he seemed to endorse the idea, suggesting it was “a good idea” adding “our region will be better, [for] stability, economic stability and also political stability. Sure, it will be better.”

However, regional analysts subsequently explained that this response by Jokowi was a culturally specific form of politeness offered by the Indonesian president, a desire to be inclusive of the summit’s host, and the idea was not one that would be pursued with any significant actions. Even if the Indonesian president were to champion the idea of Australia’s membership into ASEAN, a number of other states would be opposed.

Of course, Australia itself would have difficulty aligning with the organization’s structures, which would hinder Australia’s ability to project its values. Former Foreign Minister Bob Carr claimed that Australian membership in ASEAN would “subordinate aspects of Australian foreign policy to ASEAN. It would require Australia to refrain from any real criticism of ASEAN governments (eg. on human rights issues) and from putting forward alternatives to ASEAN positions.”

However, this does lead to questions about what Australia’s relationship with ASEAN should be, and how it could be structured and improved. Recently, Australia’s approach to the entire Asian region has been focused on trade, rather than any great investment (financial, or indeed cultural), and although this has achieved benefits, it is only one aspect of regional engagement. Canberra lacks a holistic approach to improving ties, an approach that understands that regional infrastructure requirements are intrinsically tied to both economic and physical security.

The Asian Development Bank has estimated that the Asian region as a whole requires around $1.7 trillion in infrastructure improvement each year throughout the next decade, and a significant percentage of these infrastructure deficits are in Southeast Asia. Australia has both the expertise and capital to assist in facilitating these improvements. Doing so would not only facilitate regional prosperity, but also play a key role in the promotion of Australia’s values and interests. Particularly with China making infrastructure investments the key tenet of its diplomatic strategy, Australia should not shy away from attempting to foster its own regional influence.

The symbolic and practical high point of Australia’s engagement in Southeast Asia remains the finance and construction of the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge over the Mekong River, which was opened in 1994. The bridge has dramatically increased trade between Nong Khai in Thailand and the Laotian capital of Vientiane, and helped to enhance relations between the two countries after decades of Cold War tensions. Shifting Australia’s regional engagement away from governance consultancy – which tends to be patronizing to elites and invisible to the public –  back to practical measures of direct impact is an approach Canberra needs to consider.

Australia has achieved a significant diplomatic coup by being able to host the ASEAN summit in Sydney. It is a strong recognition of the mutual interests that are shared within the region. Although ASEAN will never be a body that acts with any great decisiveness, and it lacks the ability to find solutions to regional problems like the Rohingya crisis, the organization’s ability to talk and remaining talking has been a significant factor in Southeast Asia’s evolution into a more peaceful and cooperative region. However, the region’s ability for its populations to interact with greater ease would be able to move this greater peace toward greater prosperity. Australia should see itself having a direct role to play in this evolution.