Australia's Engagement In Asia: Perception, Challenges, And Strategies

Australia's engagement with Asia

1. Which of these statements is MOST correct on Australia’s engagement with Asia ?

a. Australia engaged with Asia during the Cold War largely due to our fears of communism, however Australia did not fear Asia even though Australia’s cultural heritage was very different to that of Asia.

b. Very few Australians understand Asian cultures with Asian language studies declining in Australia.

c. Australia is involved in, or has been involved in, SEATO, ASEAN, ASEAN + 3, the East Asia Summit, APEC, Asia Pacific Community Proposal and the G20.

d. Australia’s foreign policy is based on ensuring we have an alliance with a powerful protector with a similar cultural heritage and we pay very little attention in developing any regional architecture with Asia.

2. Which of these statements is NOT correct on Australia’s engagement with Asia ?

a. While Australia was more aware of Asia in the 19^th century it did not begin engaging with Asia until after World War Two.

b. The features of the Cold War were a clash over a set of principles and policies, and tension between the US and the USSR, which resulted in Australia being involved in a number of conflicts in the Asia region.

c. The 1989 Garnaut report suggested four main strategies: tariff reduction; encouraging trade liberalisation in Asia; encouraging investment from Asian countries; and cultural integration with Asia.

d. Australia has made significant progress on all the four strategies of the 1989 Garnaut report.

3. Describe the perceptions made by Asians about Australia.

4. Describe four of the seven weaknesses that Ramesh Thakur identifies in the 2012 Asian Century While Paper.

5. Outline the changes in Australia’s relationship with India.

6. Outline how Australia’s engagement with Asia has changed since the Whitlam government.

1. Which of these statements is MOST correct on Australia’s engagement with Indonesia ?

a. Australia has always recognised the importance of Indonesia and therefore has maintained a strong relationship that has not resulted in misunderstandings or hostility.

b. Australia has not been concerned that any threat to Australia would come through the Indonesian archipelago.

c. Australia welcomed Sukarno becoming Indonesia’s first president and was not concerned with the rise of communism in Indonesia during Sukarno’s presidency.

d. Australia’s relations with Indonesia improved after the military takeover in Indonesia by General Suharto in which the Indonesian communist party was crushed. This resulted in three decades of political and economic stability under Suharto’s authoritarian rule with Australia largely turning a ‘blind eye’ to the human rights abuses that occurred during this time.

Perceptions of Australia by Asians

2. From the lecture for Week 11 on Australia’s engagement with Indonesia which of these statements is NOT correct?

a. Indonesia today is not a democracy and does not possess a strong civil society, free press and does not have fair and direct elections.

b. Australia recognised Indonesia’s takeover of East Timor in 1979 and following East Timor’s independence vote in 1999 Australia led the INTERFET mission to restore order following the chaos caused by pro-Indonesian militias. This caused some problems for the Australia-Indonesia relationship.

c. While for some Australians Indonesia is our most important regional relationship; the Indonesians often view Australia as being inconsistent in its foreign policy toward Indonesia, and Indonesia invokes our Asian fears due to its large population and large Muslim population.

d. Australia has strengthened ties with Indonesia through shared cultural exchanges; the Lombok Treaty and the IA-CEPA.

3. In approximately 100 words describe the four phases of the Australia-Indonesia relationship as outlined by Roberts and Habir with a particular focus on the period of the last 20 years.

4. In approximately 100 words describe some of the challenges in the Australia-Indonesia relationship.

1. Australia and Japan have promoted open economic regionalism in the Pacific. True or false?

2. Australia is not concerned over the growing tensions between China and Japan as it has a good relationship with both countries. True or false?

3. From Australia’s perspective, deepening the security relationship with Japan will strengthen regional security. True or false? 

4. Japan’s growing economic decline has resulted in it becoming an increasingly insignificant power in the Asia-Pacific. True or false? 

5. In approximately 200 words provide a summary of the reading for Week 12, which identifies the authors’ argument and key points supporting this.

The reading is:

Michael Heazle and Yuki Tatsumi. (2017). Explaining Australia-Japan security cooperation and its prospects: ‘the interests that bind?’ The Pacific Review 31(1), 38-56

1. From the reading by Gill and Jakobson which of these statements is MOST correct?

a. Australia’s economic relationship with China will change in the future, and while resource exports will remain important, due to Australia’s international competitiveness in services the export market in services will become increasingly important.

b. Chinese students represent the largest proportion of foreign students in Australia and Australian educators have put a substantial amount of work into ensuring that Chinese students have a positive experience and have a close connection with Australian society.

Challenges in Australia's relationships with Indonesia and China

c. There are countless opportunities for Australia through Chinese investment, however Australians seem quite ambivalent about this, particularly when Chinese investment is targeted toward real estate, infrastructure and agriculture.

d. China is now the largest source of tourists for Australia and the Australian tourist sector is well prepared to meet the challenge of the increase in tourist trade from China.

2. From the reading by Gill and Jakobson which of these statements is NOT correct? 

a. China is highly unlikely to threaten Australian territory with military force.

b. Of most concern for Australia is that the security threat from China would be in terms of economic threats, such as restricting Australian agriculture exports to China or discouraging Chinese students from attending Australian universities and schools.

c. The establishment of a strategic partnership between Australia and China will be difficult to develop due to China’s mistrust of Australia’s close alliance with the US and Australia’s unwillingness to be perceived as being disloyal to the US – Australia alliance by getting closer to China.

d. Australia has always been able to rely on the US in response to any security threats and Australia will be able to continue to rely on the US if China chooses to penalise Australia economically.

3. In approximately 100 words briefly outline some of the challenges in the Australia-China relationship.

4. Ramesh Thakur states that Australian analysts agree that Australia needs to pay careful attention to Asia’s rise; however, there are different ideas of how Australia should respond. In approximately 50 words outline the different positions taken by analysts. Ramesh Thakur’s reading can be found under Week 10 and is referred to in Part A of this exam.

5. In approximately 50 words describe the four key ideas that Gill and Jakobson outline in terms of engaging with China.

1. From the lecture for Week 14 on Australia’s engagement with New Zealand and the Pacific which of these statements is MOST correct? (2 marks)

a. By 1962 all the Pacific Islands had gained their independence from colonial rule.

b. While violent upheaval occurred in Bougainville this did not cause instability in Papua New Guinea and very little effort was required from Australia in terms of the conflict.

c. The Pacific Islands Forum reflects the interests of all the countries in the forum not just Australia and New Zealand who largely fund the forum.

d. While there are a number of similarities between Australia and New Zealand there are also a number of differences, particularly around the recognition of the indigenous people in New Zealand and Australia.

2. From the lecture for Week 14 on Australia’s engagement with New Zealand and the Pacific which of these statements is NOT correct? (2 marks)

a. The major official and institutional ties between Australia and New Zealand are ANZUS and ANZCERTA.

b. Australia still maintains a policy of non-interference in the Pacific Island states.

c. Papua New Guinea gained its independence in 1975 and since this time there have been a succession of prime ministers due to corruption, resignation or no confidence votes.

d. The major problem for Fiji in governing the country is the existence of the two large ethnic communities; the indigenous Fijians and the descendants of Indians brought in as indentured labour, which has resulted in a number of coups in Fiji.

3. Briefly describe what ‘the arc of instability’ is as outlined by Wallis and Wesley.

4. Briefly describe what RAMSI was and how this changed Australia’s foreign policy focus.

5. Identify the successes and weaknesses of the RAMSI intervention.

6. Briefly describe what Wallis and Wesley mean by the South Pacific being the ‘arc of opportunity’.

Australia's engagement with Asia

1. D) Australia's foreign policy is based on ensuring we have an alliance with a powerful protector with similar cultural heritage and we pay very little attention in developing any regional architecture with Asia.

2. D) Australia has made significant progress on all the four strategies of the 1989 Garnaut report.

3. Asians view Australia as a country that is rich just because of dumb luck. A state that is racist because, in case of any racial matters, there is an uproar by the local citizens. A country that is selfish especially in international aid and a nation that is moralistic and hypocritical. This is because they point out other people's behavior forgetting they do not have a clean slate.

4. Some tensions exist in some parts of China, and they are undisputed.

China is more likely to face climate change that may affect its food, energy, and infrastructure.
China has a high population of the elderly which poses a threat to the economy.
China's culture may be a challenge as not many Australian's are familiar with it.

5. The relations between India and Australia have strengthened ever since the Indian government made the new economic reforms. Also, India formed the Indian Australian in 1995 to enhance the relationship. There was also the formation of the Australia India-New Horizons solely to promote culture in both countries. India's economic conditions have changed making Australia pursue the strategy of building a bilateral relationship (Paramati et al., 2018). Australia and Asia' relationship has grown stronger with growth in the trade sectors in both countries. The cultures have also improved as more students are learning Asian language and cultures in Australia as well as vice versa. Australia has also become the food supplier to Asia thus ensuring food security in the country.

1. A) Australia has not been concerned that any threat to Australia would come through the Indonesian archipelago.

2. A) Indonesia today is not a democracy and does not possess a strong civil society, free press and does not have fair and direct elections.

3. The two countries have had territorial disagreements, e.g., over East Timor in 1999 that caused tension in both the countries. In 2013, there were accusations that Australian's tapped the phone of the Indonesian President then which created more tension between the two countries as well as lack of trust. To strengthen their military relationships, in 2006, the two countries signed the Lombok Treaty. This was cooperation between the two nations to govern their security.

Perceptions of Australia by Asians

Both countries have also joined to help in terrorism financing. This happened in 2015 when they co-hosted the counter-terrorism summit and came up with a risk assessment for terrorism financing in South East Asia.

4. Some of the challenges that the Australian-Indonesian relationship faces are: The two countries have a historical past of misunderstandings which, makes it difficult for them to work together. This also causes the two countries not to be able to trust each other in working together. Also, Australian's have a negative view of Indonesian's and view them as extremely religious. This stereotype is a barrier to the formation of good relations (Hamid & Kirkpatrick, 2016).

The Australian's also have other stereotypes of the Indonesian people that contribute to the disputes and misunderstandings. The media coverage of Australia in Indonesia is minimal and, therefore, the Indonesians do not have a broad knowledge of the country other than a place for jobs and vacations.

1. True

2. False

3. True

4. False

5. The Australian-Japan security relationship has experienced growth, but despite this, there are challenges that this relationship faces, that hinders the further growth of the security ties between this two countries. There exists tension between Japan and China and this affects Australia's relation with Japan. This is known as the China gap that exists between Australia and Japan (Jacobs, 2017).

This gap is caused by the difference in China and Japan and the different perceptions that they have of each other. Also, there exists the Japan capability gap that is a barrier to the security ties with Australia. This gap is caused by the constraints that Japan experiences such as constitutional. Also, there is opposition by the political parties in Japan to the defense forces of the country to engage in collective defense. These limits are a barrier to strengthening the bilateral ties between Australia and Japan (Heazle and Tatsumi, 2017). For the security ties to be strengthened, these gaps need to be diminished and the countries to focus on the common interests that they have.

1. A) Australia's economic relationship with China will change in the future, and while resource exports will remain important, due to Australia's international competitiveness in services the export market in services will become increasingly important.

2. A) China is highly unlikely to threaten Australian territory with military force.

3. Some of the challenges of the Australia-China relationship are: the two countries have a history of misunderstanding which affects their current relationship. China views Australia as a disloyal and hypocritical country and therefore do not want to engage with them (Johnson, 2017). Australia is not well adverse to the Chinese culture, and this is a barrier to the relationship. Australia is said to be racist by the Chinese, especially after the White policy.

Challenges in Australia's relationships with Indonesia and China

4. This can be done through the formation of an immigration policy that is not racial, and that has liberal internationalism. Also, Australia can offer scholarships to students in China to come and study abroad. Australia can decide to import and export goods to China. For instance exporting iron ore to China as well as food and importing agricultural products (Smith, 2015).

1. While there are some similarities between Australia and New Zealand, there are also some differences, particularly around the recognition of the indigenous people in New Zealand and Australia.

2. Australia still maintains a policy of non-interference in the Pacific Island states.

3. The arc of instability is used to describe the security challenges that the Pacific faces because it is a weak nation and may fall into corrupt power. This may pose a threat to Australia.

4. RAMSI was formed to help the Pacific states become more stable economically so that they would not pose a threat to Australia regarding security. It changed the focus of Australia to assist the neighboring countries to be stable rather than just allying with them (Putt, Dinnen, Keen & Batley, 2017).

5. Successes include: It helped in intervening the 2003 crisis in the Solomon Islands bringing safety to the land. It was successful in solving the issues of terrorism in Pacific Forum Island countries. It has helped build the economy of the Pacific states.

Weakness: international law has been a conflict causing problems to the state building. I Solomon Islands, there was a lot of corruption and lawlessness which RAMIS could not address. There is also a lot of regional conflict in the Pacific countries (Wallman & Archer, 2015).

6. The Pacific region is an arc of opportunity as it has the potential of being a strong state that can provide Australia with security screen

References

Hamid, M. O., & Kirkpatrick, A. (2016). Foreign language policies in Asia and Australia in the Asian century. Language Problems and Language Planning, 40(1), 26-46.

Heazle, M & Tatsumi, Y. (2017). Explaining Australia-Japan security cooperation and its prospects: ‘the interests that bind?' The Pacific Review 31(1), 38-56

Jacobs, E. M. (2017). Special relations, strategic locations: Prospects for the Japan-Australia security relationship. Policy: A Journal of Public Policy and Ideas, 33(2), 24.

Johnson, C. (2017). The Australia-China Security Relationship: Enhancing Bilateral Cooperation through Defence Diplomacy.

Paramati, S. R., Zakari, A., Jalle, M., Kale, S., & Begari, P. (2018). The dynamic impact of bilateral trade linkages on stock market correlations of Australia and China. Applied Economics Letters, 25(3), 141-145.

Putt, J., Dinnen, S., Keen, M., & Batley, J. (2017). The RAMSI Legacy for Pacific Policing.

Smith, W. (2015). Building engagement with China. Public Administration Today, (42), 35.

Wallman, J. F., & Archer, M. S. (2015). Australia and New Zealand. Forensic Entomology: International Dimensions and Frontiers, 53.