AUSTRALIA: New Foreign Minister in mission to US and Japan
Updated
Australia's foreign minister Stephen Smith is on his first trip to the United States and Japan, to shore up relations with the nation's two key allies. In Washington, Mr Smith will meet his US counterpart Condoleeza Rice and attend a joint sitting of the US Congress for the final state of the union address by President George Bush.Mr Smith is also expected to defend to senior US officials, the new Australian Labor government's decision to pull Australian combat forces out of Iraq.
TANTER: I don't think so really, I think that the Bush administration is well aware of the political realities of its allies around the world, Australia's one of the last remaining allies in Iraq. It's seen a succession pull out and it's well aware that this is really a fait accompli. On the other hand Mr Smith will be at pains to point out to the Bush administration that Australia is really only removing one part of its really quite broad deployment in Iraq, it's leaving its training forces there, it's leaving its naval forces in the Persian Gulf and it's leaving its air surveillance operations in the area as well as command operations. So he'll be able to mollify some of the discontent in the Bush administration on Iraq.
LAM: Do you think the Foreign Minister Stephen Smith might also try to offset Iraq with Australia's continued military commitment to the campaign in Afghanistan?
TANTER: I think in fact they are expanding the commitment in Afghanistan, and this is probably in line with Bush administration wishes. The Bush administration's been pressing its NATO and non-NATO allies, including Australia and Japan to expand its commitment in Afghanistan where the war is really going very badly, much less is known about it, and it's more urgent for the Bush administration to bolster the campaign there. So Australia has more than a thousand troops in Afghanistan and Mr Rudd and probably Mr Smith is convinced that if Iraq is the bad war then Afghanistan is the good war. I'm not sure that I'd agree with that but it's certainly a view that would find some favour in Washington at the moment where they're looking for allies in Afghanistan.
LAM: And Richard Tanter how challenging will it be for Stephen Smith to convince Washington that the new Labor government while more independent minded that its conservative predecessor under John Howard, then nonetheless the new Labor government does give top priority to Australia's traditional ally?
TANTER: I think in fact the Rudd administration's going to turn out to be probably one of the most pro-US of post-war Australian Labor governments, certainly it's up there with the Hawk administration. In his victory speech on the night of the election Mr Rudd really quite startled some Labor supporters with the strength of his very vocal commitment to the alliance, his assertion almost of loyalty to the United States. And I think the Iraq decision will be well understood by the Americans in that context. What will be more tricky is that the Rudd administration and Mr Smith will be having an eye for the new administration which will be in power in less than a year, which is almost certain to be a Democrat administration somewhat more multilateralist in its approach than Mr Bush, and he'll have an eye to the future there.
LAM: And finally Richard, Stepehen Smith of course goes to Japan after the United States. What's likely to be high on the agenda in Tokyo?
TANTER: The first will be the Fukudo administration's successful maneouvre in getting the renewal of the maritime self-defence force commitment in the Persian Gulf back into legal order and re-dispatch from those ships. Mr Smith has been very vocal in that. The second will be discussions about what Australia calls a free trade agreement, the Japanese somewhat more broadly, an economic partnership agreement. But there's also of course the what is primarily regarded by the Japanese as an irritant of Australian government's concern about whaling in the Antarctic. There's also a fourth one which has not yet emerged, but it's probably very important, both Australia and Japan have nuclear cooperation agreements with the Indonesian government and high on the agenda there will be the two government's approaches to the Indonesian government's proposal about a Muria peninsula nuclear power station in central Java.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speakers: Professor Richard Tanter, director of the Nautilus Institute at RMIT University.
TANTER: I don't think so really, I think that the Bush administration is well aware of the political realities of its allies around the world, Australia's one of the last remaining allies in Iraq. It's seen a succession pull out and it's well aware that this is really a fait accompli. On the other hand Mr Smith will be at pains to point out to the Bush administration that Australia is really only removing one part of its really quite broad deployment in Iraq, it's leaving its training forces there, it's leaving its naval forces in the Persian Gulf and it's leaving its air surveillance operations in the area as well as command operations. So he'll be able to mollify some of the discontent in the Bush administration on Iraq.
LAM: Do you think the Foreign Minister Stephen Smith might also try to offset Iraq with Australia's continued military commitment to the campaign in Afghanistan?
TANTER: I think in fact they are expanding the commitment in Afghanistan, and this is probably in line with Bush administration wishes. The Bush administration's been pressing its NATO and non-NATO allies, including Australia and Japan to expand its commitment in Afghanistan where the war is really going very badly, much less is known about it, and it's more urgent for the Bush administration to bolster the campaign there. So Australia has more than a thousand troops in Afghanistan and Mr Rudd and probably Mr Smith is convinced that if Iraq is the bad war then Afghanistan is the good war. I'm not sure that I'd agree with that but it's certainly a view that would find some favour in Washington at the moment where they're looking for allies in Afghanistan.
LAM: And Richard Tanter how challenging will it be for Stephen Smith to convince Washington that the new Labor government while more independent minded that its conservative predecessor under John Howard, then nonetheless the new Labor government does give top priority to Australia's traditional ally?
TANTER: I think in fact the Rudd administration's going to turn out to be probably one of the most pro-US of post-war Australian Labor governments, certainly it's up there with the Hawk administration. In his victory speech on the night of the election Mr Rudd really quite startled some Labor supporters with the strength of his very vocal commitment to the alliance, his assertion almost of loyalty to the United States. And I think the Iraq decision will be well understood by the Americans in that context. What will be more tricky is that the Rudd administration and Mr Smith will be having an eye for the new administration which will be in power in less than a year, which is almost certain to be a Democrat administration somewhat more multilateralist in its approach than Mr Bush, and he'll have an eye to the future there.
LAM: And finally Richard, Stepehen Smith of course goes to Japan after the United States. What's likely to be high on the agenda in Tokyo?
TANTER: The first will be the Fukuda administration's successful maneouvre in getting the renewal of the maritime self-defence force commitment in the Persian Gulf back into legal order and re-dispatch from those ships. Mr Smith has been very vocal in that. The second will be discussions about what Australia calls a free trade agreement, the Japanese somewhat more broadly, an economic partnership agreement. But there's also of course the what is primarily regarded by the Japanese as an irritant of Australian government's concern about whaling in the Antarctic. There's also a fourth one which has not yet emerged, but it's probably very important, both Australia and Japan have nuclear cooperation agreements with the Indonesian government and high on the agenda there will be the two government's approaches to the Indonesian government's proposal about a Muria peninsula nuclear power station in central Java.
