STILL ENGAGED? AUSTRALIA’S RELATIONSHIP WITH ASIA UNDER KEATING AND HOWARD

Australia's relationship with Asia represents one of the most challenging aspects of its foreign policy agenda. In perhaps no other area of the world have the regional perspectives of Australia's recent prime ministers been subject to such variation. In discussing the differences between Keating's policy of Asian 'engagement ' and Howard's focus on the ANZUS alliance, this essay provides an insight into how differing theoretical considerations can directly influence policy outcomes. One of the key features of Australian foreign policy over the last fifteen years has been the increasing interaction of Australian governments with nation-states in their immediate geographical vicinity, particularly with regard to the countries comprising the sub-region known as Southeast Asia. Building upon the rapid expansion of Australia’s relations with this region over the preceding twenty years, the Keating government of the early 1990s instituted a comprehensive program of political, diplomatic, economic, and cultural dialogue with the region that came to be collectively referred to as a policy of ‘engagement’. Underpinning this initiative was the Prime Minister’s belief that Australia’s security and broader national interests were best fulfilled through active multi-level communication with its neighbours. In comparing Keating’s approach to that of Prime Minister John Howard, this essay contends that the leaders ’ divergent regional perspectives led to a gradual replacement of this holistic regional strategy with a policy dictated by a concern for territorial sovereignty. This paper attributes this evolution to the prevailing realist outlook of the current government and the crucial role of domestic and overseas public opinion in shaping Australian regional policymaking