Diplomacy under the shadow of America
Penny Wong’s cautious diplomacy reveals Australia’s struggle to balance its loyalty to the US with the need for genuine independence on the world stage, writes Mark Beeson.
Being Australia’s foreign minister CANNOT be easy. Even the smart ones, of which there are few, must find it difficult to circle and maintain a consistent line in the face of changing geopolitical conditions. disastrously misjudged policies Of the United States of America, our default protector.
Maybe Penny Wong will follow the lead of some thoughtful premises and when freed from the constraints of party solidarity, he will rediscover his independence and honesty. In the meantime, he’ll have to choose his words carefully, which is something he’s very good at.
A largely unnoticed recent speech to Australian Institute of International Affairs It is a good example of its kind. On the plus side, the continued importance of regionalism and multilateralism is welcome, albeit with some platitudes. To be fair, Senator Wong has not tired of meeting with his counterparts in the Indo-Pacific region. Good for him. Jaw-jaw is really better than war-war, because our Southeast Asian neighbors remind us.
Australia’s record is less impressive. On the contrary, there have not been many wars, no matter how distant or strategically tangential, in which Australian policymakers have not rushed to join even without being asked. As a newly independent and tense outpost of British colonialism, perhaps the madness of World War I is understandable, if not excusable. What about Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan? Even “We” bombed Syria.
Perhaps it is difficult to resist the temptation to use all that expensively acquired military equipment once you have it. This does not bode well for the situation. the much maligned AUKUS projectSure, but perhaps that doesn’t matter, given that nuclear-powered rather than nuclear-armed submarines are unlikely to ever arrive. We are building a base for American and British submarines and paying for the renovation of their shipyards, after all we are confident that we will be safe, although we are a nuclear target.
These strange facts are either ignored or ignored in Senator Wong’s recent speech; “closest ally” and this “The Indo-Pacific would not enjoy long-term stability and prosperity without the United States and its security guarantees to the region.”.
This may be news to the nearly 2 million Vietnamese who died in the “American War,” but who is counting? there are some Great investment opportunities in Vietnam After all, if the communists had won, this would not have happened. Oh, wait, we’d better check it for accuracy.
An even more unfortunate reality, as Senator Wong puts it “Strengthened middle power diplomacy” It is the systematic trashing of our principled positions by our increasingly unstable, unpredictable and undemocratic attitudes. “great and strong friend”.
As Wong rightly points out:
“Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine shows how much is at stake in countering aggressors – an attack on sovereignty that we cannot allow to set a successful precedent.”
Even if we ignore America’s fondness for unilateral wars of aggression when deemed to be in its strategic interests, the leader of what used to be called the free world is trying to negotiate a treaty that would end the war. rewards the attacker and punishes the victim. If there was just a moment “Strengthened middle power diplomacy”this must be it. Don’t hold your breath.
The truth is that, despite endless talk about the potential of creative middle power diplomacy, we lack the basic prerequisites: independence of thought and action. Not only are we home to a growing American military presence that locks us into whatever idiotic policy comes out of the White House, but Australian policymakers and their advisors are incapable of thinking and enacting the unthinkable. a truly sovereign nation.
As a result, no Australian government can even have a frank discussion with the population it claims to represent about the consequences of our foreign policy, our relationship with the US, or our hypocritical attitude towards our “Pacific family”, which is doomed to disappear beneath the waves due to our continued activities. expansion of fossil fuel projects. As Senator Wong points out, “Being part of the solution to climate change is also central to our credibility in the Pacific.”. I was wondering where he went.
Meanwhile, “China will continue to try to reshape the region in line with its own interests.”. Yes, there is always a looming threat on the horizon that justifies all the improbable, compromised, and unjustifiable actions we take in support of America’s forces. hegemony is decliningno matter what way. The ineffable truth is that our political leaders seem to be hoping that they can wait out the Trump Administration and geopolitical business will return to business as usual.
Even without a Trump third term, we (in this case, the human race) will have to deal with a rising tide of authoritarianism, unaddressed climate change, entrenched spheres of influence, and the possibility of a US presidential run. there will be no more democracyor at least not worthy of the name. Still maybe Vice President J.D. Vance and Minister of Defense Pete Hegseth will get things done. What could go wrong?
But while it may be difficult to even mention Trump in an after-dinner pep talk, saying anything about his potential successors might actually have darkened the mood. Why ruin a nice evening when we can’t do anything anyway? Time for another glass of wine.
Mark Beeson is an adjunct professor at the University of Technology Sydney and Griffith University. He was previously Professor of International Politics at the University of Western Australia.
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