I look forward to welcoming to Sydney in March 2018 all ten ASEAN leaders at the first ASEAN-Australia Special Summit. This will be an unprecedented opportunity to reinforce Australia’s strategic partnership with ASEAN. A partnership as vital today as it was nearly 50 years ago when, in Singapore, our Foreign Minister Paul Hasluck responded to the British withdrawal of its forces East of Suez by saying: “Others can go...But we can't go home because this is our home.”
The challenges our region faces, at a time of unprecedented change and uncertainty, should not over-awe us. Our region has faced challenges before - imperial nationalism, economic crises, inter and intra state conflict, pandemics. Australia sees a region that has seen off, worked through, made progress on each of those challenges. It has emerged stronger, richer and more at the centre of global affairs.
In the process, our region has seen the largest and fastest economic transformation in human history - lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty. This growth has been enabled by our region’s embrace of the digital world with a sense of opportunity rather than of fear. A region with this dynamism can solve its own problems, so long as we are clear about the principles that guide us. A region where might is not right, where transparent rules apply to all - the big fish, the little fish and the shrimps. A region which supports and advances open markets, free from coercion.
In doing so, our region can do more to address global challenges. Indeed as economic and political weight shifts to our region, we are at the centre of the global economy and with that comes greater responsibility for leadership. Australia will be an enduring, engaged and constructive partner.
As Lee Kuan Yew reminded us, we need to make the choices that are necessary not only to keep the peace but also to preserve the freedom to be ourselves. |
