Australia's Howard presses case for closer Asian ties
Australia's Howard presses case for closer Asian ties
Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur
Australian Prime Minister John Howard pressed his case for closer ties with Asian countries in an interview published here on Wednesday, dismissing concerns over Canberra's links with Washington and threats of pre-emptive military action in the region.
Fresh from hosting the Indonesian president earlier this week, Howard spoke to the New Straits Times ahead of a visit to Australia by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Thursday -- the first by a Malaysian leader in more than 20 years of sometimes frosty relations.
"My view is that Australia's future success is fundamentally based on its global engagement and there is no doubt that deeper and stronger ties with the countries of Asia are a vital part of that," Howard said.
Asked whether Australia could be a real partner with Asian countries given its strong alliance with the United States, Howard pointed out that several Asian countries, such as Japan and South Korea, had similar links with Washington.
"So I don't see the distinction between being allied to the United States on the one hand and working in partnership with Asian countries on the other," he said.
Malaysia's former prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, repeatedly rebuffed Australia's attempts to join Asian economic and political groupings, scorning Howard as Washington's "deputy sheriff" in the region.
Abdullah, who took over when Mahathir retired in October 2003, has taken a less confrontational line but complained in an interview with Australian television on Sunday that Howard's government was too focused on its alliance with the United States to fit fully into Asia.
Howard said later that he still believed ties between the two governments would be better under Abdullah than they had been under Mahathir, and he told the New Straits Times Abdullah's visit was "very significant and most welcome".
Fundamental links between the two countries had always been strong, he said, and last year total bilateral trade was nearly A$10 billion (US$7.6 billion), an increase of nearly 25 percent over the previous year.
Abdullah, in his interview with Australian television, also criticized Howard for raising the prospect of taking unilateral action against armed extremists' bases in the region.
Howard told the New Straits Times that any such action would involve collaboration with other countries.
"On the concept of pre-emption, I find that most leaders agree with the commonsense principle that if you came to know that, for example, a terrorist group was going to attack your country, you would do everything you could, in collaboration with neighbors and friends, to prevent that attack before your people were harmed," he said.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono hailed a "new era" of relations with Australia on his visit on Monday and announced that he would press his fellow Southeast Asian leaders to accept Australia into Asian-bloc talks later this year.
But Howard might find more resistance from Abdullah. His deputy, Najib Razak, said last month Australia should be excluded from an East Asia Summit to be held here in December.
The summit aims to build cooperation between the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Japan, South Korea and China as part of a move towards an East Asian Community.