Aust PM criticised over pursuit of Asia Pacific community
Updated
An Australian foreign policy expert says Kevin Rudd's displaying a poor understanding of regional dynamics as he pursues his vision for a new Asia Pacific Community. John Lee, who is Foreign Policy Fellow at Australia's Centre for Independent Studies, has just completed a visit to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia and says Kevin Rudd is getting nothing more than a polite hearing in the region with the idea. Mr Rudd is persisting. After months of diplomacy by his special envoy he's now written to regional leaders proposing a summit on the idea next year. John Lee says Mr Rudd is mis-reading regional dynamics and trying to impose an institution that's neither wanted nor needed.
Presenter: Linda Mottram
Speaker: John Lee, Foreign policy fellow with Australia's Centre for Indepent Studies
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LEE: I don't think the Asian states want a comprehensive forum because they're of the opinion a comprehensive forum won't achieve very much. There is at the moment too many ambiguities and too many unknowns about what the intentions of the Chinese might be, where Japan is heading, where South Korea is heading etc..And I think when you have a forum like this, rather than actually clarifying things you actually confuse things. I think there needs to be a lot more clarity as to where countries are heading before you can have any constructive dialogue.
MOTTRAM: But surely a nice, elegant top down structure which has all those possibilities in it would accommodate the fluidity of the region?
LEE: I think the nice elegant top down structure is the problem Asian countries have, Asia is a pretty messy region in the sense that Asia has countries with a lot of varying interests even between allies themselves when you attempt to impose some sort of top down elegant structure on this, what you tend to get is an organisation that tries to attempts at least to address all the relevant issues and in the end addresses very little. For example in Asia you have several ASEAN lead summits, these ASEAN led summits have been underestimated by Rudd, they've actually achieved quite a bit of structured dialogue, structured dialogue that is commeasurate with what Asian States are quite ready to talk about. So I think actually Rudd is either behind the game or way too far ahead of the game.
MOTTRAM: So should he just quietly let the idea drop?
LEE: Well I think he should, I think he should play a more constructive role, first of all Australia needs to understand there's already a very subtle but strategic dialogue going on in the region and secondly we need to understand that and thirdly we need to work within that and not propose any sort of top down brand new structure that might sound good but actually has very little impact or support from the region.
MOTTRAM: Does Australia have a role in that subtle strategic discussion in the region already or not?
LEE: At the moment Australia doesn't really havea role and one of the reasons why it doesn't is that Australia has never really been part of the strategic set up in Asia, we've always had a very powerful protect in the Americans and that's an understandable luxury that we want to continue to preserve, but if Australia wants to have a greater role Australia has to understand the insecurities and fears of Asian partners and not simply assume there is an element of strategic drift going on.
MOTTRAM: And so if Australia continues to pursue this idea what do you think the implications are in terms of its relationship and its evolving relations in the region?
LEE: Well I think Australia's diplomatic relations with States in the region will continue to be very strong but i think Australia will continue to remain strategically irrelevant and that's obviously not something Prime Minister Rudd would want to happen .
MOTTRAM: So by pursuing this idea actively, the Prime Minister could be excluding Australia from a potentially deeper role?
LEE: Well I think the Prime Minister is actually demonstrating to Asia that we still have a very poor understanding of the subtle strategic dynamics of the region, I've just returned from a trip to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia and this is certainly the very strong message that I am getting.
