scholarly journals Testing the creativity of Kevin Rudd's middle power diplomacy: EU-Australia partnership framework versus the Asia-Pacific community

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Baba ◽  
T. O. Kaya
Keyword(s):  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Middle Power ◽  
Pacific Community

The Sino-U.S. National Identity Gap, Australia, and the Formation of an Asia-Pacific Community

Asian Survey ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-366
Author(s):  
Gilbert Rozman
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Middle Power ◽  
Universal Values ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Pacific Community

Australia is a middle power caught between rising dependence on China, which seeks a sinocentric region, and growing security reliance on the U.S., which strives for a trans-Pacific community supporting universal values. In light of the Sino-U.S. identity gap and different concepts of regionalism, its response becomes clearer.

The Awkwardness of Australian Engagement with Asia: The Dilemmas of Australian Idea of Regionalism

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
BAOGANG HE
Keyword(s):  
Regional Integration ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Full Member ◽  
Regional Institutions ◽  
International Power ◽  
Asian Context ◽  
High Level ◽  
Pacific Community

AbstractAustralia has experienced difficulties engaging with Asia-Pacific regional integration. Despite Australian attempts to punch above its weight in regional forums and to be a regional leader, it is still not regarded as a full member or as quite fitting into the region. It is an ‘awkward partner’ in the Asian context, and has experienced the ‘liminality’ of being neither here nor there. The former Rudd government's proposal for an ‘Asia Pacific Community’ (APC) by the year 2020 was a substantive initiative in Australia's ongoing engagement with Asia. It has, however, attracted a high level of criticism both at home and abroad. The main critical analysis of the proposal has focused on institutional building or architecture, or its relationship with existing regional institutions, but overlooks a host of often fraught questions about culture, norms, identities, and international power relations. The APC concept needs to be scrutinized in terms of these questions with a critical eye. This paper examines the cultural, cognitive, and normative dimensions of Rudd's proposal. It analyses four dilemmas or awkward problems that the APC faces.

Indonesia and the ASEAN outlook on the Indo-Pacific

2020 ◽  
Vol 96 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dewi Fortuna Anwar
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Law ◽  
Leadership Role ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Major Powers ◽  
Middle Power ◽  
East Asia Summit ◽  
The Us ◽  
Block Approach

Abstract Indonesia has taken a leadership role within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in drafting a common outlook on the Indo-Pacific concept. The widening of Indonesia's geostrategic canvas from the Asia–Pacific to the Indo-Pacific is in line with President Joko Widodo's intent to make Indonesia a Global Maritime Fulcrum (GMF). In view of the rivalry between the US and China and the emergence of various Indo-Pacific initiatives from other countries, Indonesia believes that ASEAN must try to maintain its centrality. The draft of Indonesia's perspective for an ASEAN outlook on the Indo-Pacific: towards a peaceful, prosperous, and inclusive region was submitted for considerations by ASEAN, and after 18 months of intensive lobbying by Indonesia the concept was finally adopted at the ASEAN Summit in June 2019. The ASEAN outlook promotes the principles of openness, inclusiveness, transparency, respect for international law and ASEAN centrality in the Indo-Pacific region. It proposes a building-block approach, seeking commonalities between existing regional initiatives in which ASEAN-led mechanisms will act as a fulcrum for both norm-setting and concrete cooperation. Rather than creating a new regional architecture, the East Asia Summit (EAS) is proposed as the platform for advancing the Indo-Pacific discourse and cooperation. Indonesia's ASEAN outlook on the Indo-Pacific marks its renewed foreign policy activism as a middle power and underlines the continuing importance that Indonesia places on ASEAN as the cornerstone of its foreign policy, emphasising ASEAN's centrality as the primary vehicle for managing relations with the major powers in the Indo-Pacific region.

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