Howard says Asia is Australia's first foreign policy priority
Howard says Asia is Australia's first foreign policy priority
Associated Press, Sydney, Australia
Relations with Asia remain Australia's number one foreign policy
priority, Prime Minister John Howard said Sunday, as 2,000 of his
country's troops were in the Middle East preparing for a possible
war with Iraq.
Howard, who heads a three-term conservative coalition, said
that in his seven years in office he had refocused foreign policy
that under previous Labor administrations had concentrated almost
exclusively on links with Asia.
"We've ... managed to rebalance our foreign and defense
relationships," Howard told the Nine Network. "We're no longer
seen as a country that's only interested in the Asian region,
important though that is, and the region of our first priority."
Howard has been accused by opposition lawmakers of turning his
back on Asia - a region of crucial economic and strategic
importance to Australia - in favor of tightening bonds with
Washington.
The United States is joint top of Australia's list of trade
partners, but it shares the number one ranking with Japan and
most of Canberra's other major export markets are in Asia.
Australia and the United States are joined by a close military
alliance that has angered some Asian neighbors, particularly
Malaysia and Indonesia.
He also recently enraged the region by saying Australia would
be prepared to send troops into neighboring countries to stamp
out terrorist threats to Australia. Last week Howard's government
revealed plans to make Australia's armed forces more mobile to
allow troops to swoop onto terror hot spots.
Howard also angered many in the region when he sent Australian
troops to East Timor to lead an international force that restored
order there after the province's August 1999 vote for
independence from Indonesia.
And his strong backing for the tough U.S. line on Iraq,
sending forces to the region to prepare for war, has caused yet
more friction with mainly Muslim neighbors like Indonesia and
Malaysia.
Howard recently visited Jakarta to reassure the world's most
populous Islamic nation that his government's strong line on Iraq
was in no way an anti-Muslim crusade.
But Howard said Australia's foreign policy now should be seen
as far more far reaching than just Asia or the United States.
"I think we're also seen around the world as a country that
has interest everywhere," he said.