The Trump administration must step up and play a great role in our region, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said on Monday evening, as the rise of China and disputes over maritime boundaries present fresh challenges in the Indo-Pacific.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
In a speech delivered in Singapore, Ms Bishop delivered a full-throated defence of democratic institutions and regional norms, urging ASEAN members to champion democratic norms and institutions in the region.
Ms Bishop, who recently met US Vice-President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and National Security Adviser HR McMaster, also linked economic prosperity with nations' democratic institutions in her Fullerton Lecture.
Following the election of President Trump, she argued, the Indo-Pacific region was in a "strategic holding pattern and waiting to see whether the US and its security allies and partners can continue to play the robust and constructive role that they have for many decades in preserving the peace".
"China is rising as an economic partner and geo-political and geo-strategic competitor with the United States and other nations.This brings with it its own challenges, not least because China is disputing maritime boundaries in the East and South China Seas, as do a number of South-East Asian countries with respect to the South China Sea."
"If stability and prosperity are to continue, the United States must play an even greater role as the indispensable strategic power in the Indo-Pacific."
Her comments build on a speech earlier this year in which she called for the US to more deeply engage with Asia and recognise rising regional uncertainty.
Before and after being elected, President Trump has questioned the value and cost of the network of alliances established by the US in the Indo-Pacific region following World War II, unsettling traditional allies in the region.
US Defence Secretary James Mattis visited South Korea and Japan soon after being sworn in to reassure those two allies.
Ms Bishop's made her comments as Australia and its near neighbours grapple with increasing uncertainty over China's rise as an economic and military power; disputes over maritime boundaries; the election of Mr Trump; and against the back-drop of recent missile tests by North Korea.
In that context, Ms Bishop sent a clear message to China with her call to defend the international rules-based order and for ASEAN democracies to defend democratic institutions and to "never underestimate the moral force it can exert in the form of collective diplomatic pressure on countries that might think or behave differently".
"When the strong impose their will on the weaker state, it invariably leads to the latter's resentment of unfair agreements imposed on them. The better alternative is the existing rules-based order, which has served the region remarkably well," she said in the speech.
At present the "regional order is under strain as nations occasionally use their economic or military weight to push the envelope while accusing the rules-based order of being a relic from a different era. It is clear that the case in favour needs to be remade and reinforced".
"Non-democracies like China can thrive", she added, when participating in the regional system but "history also shows democracy and democratic institutions are essential for nations if they are to reach their economic potential".
Ms Bishop added that the only countries in the world who had managed to become "wealthy, high-income and advanced economies are democracies, with the exception of a small number of oil-rich Middle Eastern states".
Follow James Massola on Facebook for more.
