The Malcolm Turnbull government in Canberra has released a ‘foreign policy white paper’, highlighting Australia’s close ties with India, Japan and the US.
In the white paper, Australia clearly mentioned that Canberra’s interests in the “Indo-Pacific” region would shape the Australian foreign policy in the coming days. It has also been mentioned in the paper that the close co-operation between Australia, Japan, the US and India would ensure regional (and global) peace.
Prime Minister Turnbull said over the weekend that Australia was trying hard to counter China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region by joining hands with countries, which “share our interests and commitment to rules-based institutions”.

Malcolm Turnbull

Although the main opposition – Labour party – is not ready to accept the “quadrilateral” as the cornerstone of Australian foreign policy, the Aussie premier believes that only the ‘quad’ can counter the Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific (and not the Asia-Pacific) region.
Interestingly, Turnbull admitted that China emerged as an economic giant and it would not be possible for Australia to snap ties with Beijing. According to the Aussie premier, Canberra would maintain close economic and trade ties with China, but strengthen strategic and security ties with the US, Japan and India.
The PM told the media: “A good example is when officials of Japan, India, the US and Australia met in the margins of the East Asia Summit in Manila earlier this month. I discussed the importance of this initiative with (Indian) Prime Minister Narendra Modi at our meeting. Another was my meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in Vietnam earlier this month, where we agreed to work towards signing a strategic partnership.”
Commenting on Australia’s strategic dilemma, the premier said: “This is the first time in our history that our dominant trading partner is not also our dominant security partner.” He further admitted China’s contribution to the Australian economy and society, saying that it has become difficult to bolster security and defence ties with the Asian giant because of its aggressive foreign policies. So, according to Turnbull, Australia is trying to revive the “quad”.

Indo-Pacific

Meanwhile, the PM revealed that his government would soon release an ‘India strategy paper’, describing the Australian vision of the Indo-Pacific. Turnbull insisted that foreign policy makers should avoid the “might is right” attitude or else a country would have to face dire consequences in the current global geopolitical scenario. He described “a neighbourhood that is defined by open markets and the free flow of goods, services, capital and ideas”, saying that big powers should respect the smaller states’ ‘freedom of navigation’, if they really wanted to ensure global peace.
Rowan Callick, a columnist for ‘The Australian’ in China, said that Beijing would never accept the word ‘Indo-Pacific’. “The term Indo-Pacific has become identified with the resurrection of the quadrilateral dialogue between India, Japan, the US and Australia, viewed by some in China as a ‘containment’ strategy, a word intended to arouse memories of the ‘century of humiliation by foreign powers’ that occupies a central place in Chinese history books,” stressed Callick.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das