Australia will not beg for East Asia Summit entry
Australia will not beg for East Asia Summit entry
Michelle Nichols, Reuters/Canberra
Australia would not beg for an invitation to join a summit of East Asian countries but should be a member because of its high- level involvement in the region, Prime Minister John Howard said on Friday.
He said it would be up to the 10-member ASEAN plus powerhouses South Korea, China and Japan to decide if Australia should be part of the summit.
"We would be very happy to participate but we are not knocking on doors begging admission ... Australia is a strong, respected, involved country in the region and that will be the case whether or not we are at this summit," Howard said.
"It would be appropriate, given the level of our involvement, that we be there and that's a view that held by a number of countries, including in particular Indonesia and Japan," he told Australian radio.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations comprises Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia and Cambodia.
An invitation to Australia to join the summit -- created by ASEAN members plus South Korea, China and Japan in 2004 -- would be a breakthrough in Canberra's long-sought-after bid for acceptance in Asia, analysts say.
Malcolm Cook, Asia and the Pacific director at the Lowy Institute think-tank in Sydney, said it was important Australia was involved because the summit could eventually replace ASEAN as the primary Asian grouping, encompassing trade, monetary and security policy around the region.
But Howard said while Australia wants to be part of the summit -- due to meet for the first time in Malaysia later this year -- he considered bilateral relationships more important.
Australia has struggled to balance its close alliance with the United States and Britain with its geographical location, with Asia criticizing the conservative Howard for ignoring the region for much of his nine years in power.
At times Howard has tested Australia's relationship with Asia, alarming neighbors with comments that reinforced his 1999 description of Australia as a U.S. "deputy sheriff" in Asia.
But a fresh drive into Asia has been starting to pay off with a series of free-trade deals, closer security ties in the war on terrorism and visits this week by Indonesian President Suslio Bambang Yudhoyono and Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Howard last year became the first Australian prime minister to attend an ASEAN leaders' meeting and negotiations for a free- trade deal between ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand are underway.
Analysts say Australia's economic clout, plus its huge reserves of natural resources, are accelerating closer links with Asia.
"It would be a major symbolic victory (if we were invited to join the East Asia Summit) because it would show that what's happened in the past has been overcome," said Dennis Woodward, an international political analyst at Monash University.
Woodward said making Australia a member of the East Asia Summit would give the grouping greater legitimacy globally.
"Especially given the fact that Australia has at various times taken a pretty strong stand on human rights violations and a lot of these countries haven't got great records on human rights, so they have been a bit isolated diplomatically."
Susilo this week vowed to promote Canberra's ties in Asia and said it was important Australia be a part of the East Asia Summit. Abdullah -- who last week criticized Australia's foreign policy as being too close to the United States -- shied away from such an endorsement.
Cook said while Malaysia and China were uneasy about Australia joining the summit. He believed other Southeast Asian nations would welcome Canberra's inclusion because of its perceived bridging role between China and the United States.
"The United States isn't even being considered (for an invitation) and they are becoming increasingly wary of the East Asia Summit," said Cook, adding that those concerns would be somewhat allayed if Australia was invited.