Australia recasts its relations with neighbors

Australia recasts its relations with neighbors

By Sid Astbury

Sydney (DPA): Australia's previous prime Minister, Paul
Keating, was keen on engaging Asia. He tried to be chums with
Asian leaders and was careful to keep in check his tart tongue on
visits to the neighbors.

Keating took the view that it was personal relations, not
political principles, that really mattered in Asia. He struck up
a friendship with ex-president Soeharto. He was quick to
apologize for calling Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir
"recalcitrant".

John Howard, Australia's current prime minister, takes a quite
different view. He believes that Asia is not a special place,
that principles are always more important than people, that
Australia's best interests are served by being up-front and
businesslike with everyone.

It's a stance that doesn't please all Australians. They say
that Howard's failure to get up close and personal with U.S.
President Bill Clinton has led to unseemly trade friction with
the United States, the only superpower and Australia's firmest
ally.

When Howard visited Clinton in the White House earlier this
year, he was back in the Rose Garden in less than 20 minutes.

But Howard is standing his ground. He told parliament recently
that "we should not delude ourselves that relations between
countries turn of the personal rapport of leaders, the sentiments
of governments or so-called special relationships".

In Asia the new Australian style of diplomacy has caused
consternation.

Lim Kit Siang, the leader of the Opposition in Malaysia's
parliament, said Howard had "done more than any previous
Australian prime minister to damage Australia's relations with
Asia".

Salim Said, a Jakarta academic and political commentator, was
even more barbed. He said that Howard is "like a 19th century
European standing on a beach and thinking he will have to watch
out for the little brown uncivilized neighbors that lie to the
north".

What seems to stick in the craw of some Asian luminaries is
that the "Howard Doctrine" -- as it has come to be called -- is a
reappraisal of Australia's position in Asia.

According to Howard, Australia occupies a "unique intersection
-- a Western nation next to Asia with strong links to the United
States and Europe".

To some analysts, Howard indeed has damaged relations with the
neighbors. David McGibbon, a former Howard colleague, says the
switch in stance "has made it very easy to run the campaign
against Australia that we are isolated in Asia -- and we've spent
50 years trying to put a different perspective".

But to others, the Howard Doctrine is a breath of fresh air.
Why, they ask, shouldn't Australia's relations with Asia be
conducted in the same way as with any other region of the world.

In fact, some see Howard's robustness as one step back for two
steps forward. They say that for the first time in decades
Australian policy actually accords with the wishes of the
Australian people. As Howard himself said: "National interest
cannot be pursued without regard to the values of the Australian
community".