18 August 2023: The Week in Australian Foreign Affairs
This week in Australian foreign affairs: Albanese off to Indonesia, the Philippines, and India next month; Pacific Rugby League Championships established; Australia hosting Exercise Malabar for the first time; Japan-Australia RAA enters into force; and more.
On 11 August, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced he will travel to Indonesia, the Philippines and India in September, “to meet with regional leaders to discuss global challenges and advance Australia’s economic, security and climate agenda.” Albanese will attend the 3rd Annual ASEAN-Australia Summit and the 18th East Asia Summit in Jakarta. He will then attend the G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi. Albanese will also visit Manila, the first Australian Prime Minister to undertake a bilateral visit to the Philippines since 2003. He stated that “deepening Australia’s engagement with Southeast Asia is a key priority for my Government. Our futures are intertwined – so it’s essential that we work together to achieve a peaceful, stable and prosperous region.
Albanese and Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy issued a joint statement noting that the Government is partnering with the National Rugby League to establish the new Pacific Rugby League Championships. The Government is committing $7 million over the next two years to the inaugural Pacific Championships, which will feature women’s and men’s teams from Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Tonga. Albanese stated that “geography makes us neighbours, but through sport we build strong and lasting ties across the Pacific family.”
From 10 to 21 August, Australia is hosting “key partners” India, Japan and the United States for Exercise Malabar for the first time. Minister for Defence Richard Marles noted that “amid the current strategic circumstances, it is more important than ever we partner with our neighbours, and deepen our defence partnerships.” The Exercise will comprise “high-end training including air defence and anti-submarine exercises, aviation, communications and replenishment at sea between ships.”
Marles addressed the Australian American Leadership Dialogue dinner on 10 August. He reflected on the bilateral relationship and the role of World War II in rendering the Alliance “unbreakable”. Marles stated that the relationship “has never been deeper and more collaborative than it is right now”, referring to the outcomes of the recent AUSMIN meeting. He also said that the visiting American delegation “could not be more welcome here in our nation’s capital, as the closest of friends and the closest of partners.”
On 14 August, Marles and Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong noted the entry into force of the Japan-Australia Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA), which “provides the legal framework for greater defence cooperation between the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF).” Marles and Wong also noted the RAA is the “first visiting forces agreement that Japan has struck with any country outside the United States.” The RAA will mean “more training and exercises between the two countries”, including Japanese F-35s deploying to RAAF Base Tindal at the end of August, Australian F-35s being deployed to Japan for the first time next month, and Australia fully participating in Exercise Yama Sakura for the first time in December. Wong stated that “Australia and Japan share an aspiration for a stable, peaceful and prosperous region, and this bilateral Reciprocal Access Agreement will help us deepen our defence cooperation.”
Wong and Minister for Climate Change Chris Bowen issued a joint media release on 16 August which noted that “the governments of Australia and California have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to accelerate our shared efforts to deliver climate action and support clean energy transition.” Wong and Bowen noted that the MOU “follows on from the national-level Climate, Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Transformation Compact announced by Prime Minister Albanese and President Biden in May 2023.” California Governor Gavin Newsom and Australia’s Ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd also issued a joint statement on the MOU, which they said “creat[es] a framework for cooperation on climate action and ecosystem protection” and “promotes the creation of clean jobs and inclusive economic growth for Australians and Californians alike.” The MOU was signed on 16 August by Australian Consul-General Los Angeles Jane Duke and Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency Wade Crowfoot. It identifies areas of cooperation including zero-emission vehicles, battery electric vehicle grid interaction, water management, drought resilience, and supply chain certification technologies.
On 11 August, Wong acknowledged that it has been three years since Australian citizen Cheng Lei was detained in China. She referred to Cheng’s message to the public and stated that it “makes clear her deep love for our country.” Wong noted that “Australia has consistently advocated for Ms Cheng, and asked that basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment to be met for Ms Cheng, in accordance with international norms.”
Minister for Trade Don Farrell issued a joint statement with his New Zealand counterpart, Damien O’Connor, on 11 August after the Ministers met in Adelaide to mark the 40th anniversary of the Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement (the CER Agreement). They signed the Australia-New Zealand Sustainable and Inclusive Trade Declaration, in line with commitments made by Prime Ministers Albanese and Hipkins in Wellington, which they noted “amplifies the strong commitment, in this anniversary year, to working collaboratively to support rules-based international trade in pursuit of more modern, resilient and sustainable economies.” The Ministers also “welcomed the Trans-Tasman Roadmap to 2035”, “acknowledged the significance of 40 years of the CER Agreement”, and noted that they “looked forward to signing the upgraded Agreement Establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA) in Indonesia, later in the month.”
Isabella Keith is a weekly columnist for Australian Outlook. She is also a Research Assistant, Sessional Academic, and Honours student in Law at the Australian National University, with a focus on international law. Isabella attended the AIIA #NextGen study tour to South Korea last year, and was also a delegate to the AIIA’s Australia-Korea-New Zealand and Australia-United States-Japan Policy Forums. She can be found on Twitter here.
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