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Transcript E&OE
Welcome remarks by Mr Peter Varghese AO, Chair of the Asialink Council, to the Australia ASEAN Emerging Leaders Summit, Melbourne, 4 March 2024
Let me begin, as so many gatherings in Australia do today, by acknowledging the traditional owners of the lands on which we meet and to pay my respects to elders past and present.
It is a great pleasure for me, as Chair of the Asialink Council, to welcome you all to this summit.
For over thirty years Asialink has sought to deepen the ties between Australia and our region, and the ASEAN countries have been a particular focus of our efforts across, education, business, diplomacy and the arts. We have always taken the view that engagement in the region must engage both the mind and the heart; that it flows from an understanding of mutual interests as well as mutual understanding.
As emerging leaders you will have to navigate a different and more uncertain region. Your generation will have to find its own voice on how to imagine the relationship between Australia and the countries of ASEAN. And with that voice will come a strategy adapted to the challenges of the future: a recognition of continuity but also a willingness to contemplate new approaches.
The Australia-ASEAN connection is a story at many levels: a narrative of government to government relations, of connections forged in commerce, of diaspora groups building distinctive bridges between Australia and their countries of origin, and of individuals in civil society and professional organisations who understand that we have much to learn from each other.
There is nothing static about the story of Australia and the countries of South East Asia Asia. It has changed over time as both Australia and the region have changed. It has gone through periods of neglect, anxiety, imagined bounty, indifference, exhortation and controversy.
The one constant in this relationship is a recognition that South East Asia is Australia’s strategic hinterland. Its internal stability and its external positioning are and will remain critical elements in Australia’s strategic peace of mind.
South East Asia is at the geographic centre of a shifting strategic environment. It has no interest in a new cold war. It wants a region which is not forced to choose. It sees balance not hegemony as the best outcome.
As a US ally, Australia of course has its own strategic perception. But while our perspectives may differ, it is also the case that Australia and South East Asia occupy a common strategic space and that our strategic futures are intertwined.
Today the contours of that shared future look less certain.
Australia and South East Asia are both part of the broader Indo Pacific region and the strategic and economic currents which flow through that region inevitably shape both our national objectives and our shared agenda.
That agenda includes the need to find a new framework to manage our most consequential relationship in Asia, namely China. A framework which does not abandon engagement but also recognises that engagement alone will not be sufficient to meet the challenges ahead. We need to move towards a new strategic equilibrium in the Indo Pacific which accepts the reality of a new distribution of power, puts a premium on stability but which can also effectively constrain unacceptable behaviour. An equilibrium which is inclusive and reflects the emerging reality of a multipolar Asia.
The next decade will test many elements of the policies of both Australia and the countries of ASEAN. Can the US and China manage competition short of conflict? Is it inevitable that a strategic competitor morphs into an enemy? How far will decoupling go and at what economic cost to all of us? And how do we find the vocabulary to re-prosecute the case for an open economy and a liberalising trading system at a time when the siren calls of self reliance grow ever louder?
If we are to have any chance of coming to grips with these large challenges we will need to know each other at a deeper level: to understand South East Asia’s many histories, its cultures, its economic drivers, its strategic culture and its views of Australia and our place in the world.
ASEAN’s rise and cohesion has been a great stabiliser of the region, but ASEAN coexists with the great diversity of South East Asia where there is no single culture or view of things. It is a place of many languages, religions and civilizations. So in many ways Australia’s ability to engage with South East Asia is a test of something bigger: our ability as a nation to deal with difference and diversity, to forge partnerships which transcend language or values, to move beyond our comfort zone.
Modern Australia has never been an insular society. But we have lived in a world shaped by Europe and North America and our modern cultural moorings have made us comfortable in that world. That has been a large advantage at many points in our history.
But the world of the next generation – your generation - will be different. Since federation Australia has enjoyed the strategic luxury of being a partner of the primary global strategic power. Now we must navigate a more multipolar world in which we have little experience and which will require greater self reliance. It will be a world shaped more by Asian perspectives and Asian power, including the collective weight of ASEAN.
These are just some of the big issues this summit of emerging leaders will wrestle with. None of them have simple or quick answers and most will be lurking in the background of our policy making for a generation or more.
As emerging leaders you can bring a fresh perspective to the many challenges we will jointly face. To your generation will fall the task of navigating uncertainty while holding firm to clear objectives; of finding common ground in competing interests; of reconciling ambition with stability; and finding new ways to ensure the security and prosperity of our nations and our shared region.
I wish you a successful summit.