An Australian initiative for the Asia-Pacific

It is a fact that Asia is undertaking powerful integration initiatives, such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Japan’s Fukuda Doctrine of the Pacific Ocean as an inland sea; Russia moving closer to China and India with security projects, and the Australian initiative, based on the successful integration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN +3 and others).

It is interesting, in light of Chile’s recently concluded FTA with Australia, to reflect on that accord’s connection to the Australian initiative for Asia.

In an official government document published August 2008, Australia acknowledged that the Asia-Pacific will be the geo-strategic center and the principal geo-economic power during this century’s changes for which they feel a great responsibility, given the number of Asians studying and living there. There is currently an impressive connection between the two continents in terms of geography, infrastructure, and economic and human resource exchange.

Australia recognizes that we are entering the "Pacific Century". It estimates that, by 2020, Asia will be responsible for 45% of the world’s GDP, one-third of international trade and almost one-quarter of military expenditure. It also expects that a faster population growth and urbanization processes will increase the pressures on natural resources and in particular on energy. More than half of global energy consumption will come from Asia by 2020.

Australia, like other Asian countries, is fearful of the enormous powers that China and India are becoming. It is also closely monitoring how China inserts itself into the world’s financial, information and, maybe even, political systems. We do not yet know if China will move into politics, given its unique political, cultural and traditional perspectives, which is extremely Confucian.

Even the evolution of the concept of national security is a concern to Australia; in broad terms of food security, water (which is expected to be a scarce commodity), and diseases arising from pandemics. From Australia’s point of view, these newly-evolved security concepts imply new strategic ramifications and increased competition and rivalry. Therefore, to strengthen security in a broad sense, it suggested, together with the U.S. and Singapore, long term initiatives which are not only regional, but global in scope. Why Singapore? Because it has influence in ASEAN, which has grown and matured, leaving behind the political context of the Cold War and integrating in a real and pragmatic manner.

APEC needs to evolve more into a free trade area of the 21 economies which comprise it. This is an idea that Chile and the US have promoted in order to convince Asians to join a regional FTA, which of course, given the current state of affairs, seems a bit far-fetched.

Australia wants to develop a concept involving a stable, open and prosperous Pacific community. A community which opens channels between the various countries and where Australia will play an important role in developing opportunities for dialogue between the US, China, Japan, Korea, ASEAN and others. That is, it seeks to be an interlocutor and driver vis-à-vis future challenges, such as climate change, economic liberalization, and cooperation on security and disaster management.

It is noteworthy that the South American portion of the Pacific Rim does not appear in Australian scheme, whereas it only mentions the need for talks to expand the initiative in Asia. This is a long-term project (to 2020). When Australia was opposed to our entry into APEC, the situation was different, because we were not trading partners. Now it is worth asking what role Chile would occupy in this initiative and if Australia wants to be our interlocutor in Asia.