Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)

Australia has once again demonstrated its cavalier disregard for its South-East Asian neighbours with its announcement of the AUKUS alliance.

Like pretty much every country, the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were sideswiped by the news, in particular the introduction of nuclear submarines to the region by a non-nuclear power.

On September 9, only days before the AUKUS was unveiled, Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Peter Dutton met their counterparts in Jakarta for the seventh so-called 2+2 meeting. They apparently did not advise them of what was about to come — the headline of that meeting was that the “ministers underscored the importance of maintaining and promoting a stable, peaceful, prosperous, resilient and inclusive Indo-Pacific“ as they upgraded existing bilateral agreements amid the usual raft of new initiatives and promises to uphold regional order.   

This mixed messaging is, at best, inept.

Yet ASEAN should hardly be surprised. Despite the consistent Asian century rhetoric from federal governments of both stripes for more than a decade, this was by and large meant China.

In the past five years the Liberal National Party has rapidly switched its rhetoric from vast opportunity to imminent threat. Only two years ago Australia slashed its aid to the region by 42% to lift aid to the Pacific — one of the Morrison government’s more ham-fisted attempts to counter China. Then followed some incohesive flip-flopping that has been the hallmark of the Coalition’s attitude to South-East Asia.

Indonesia has long been considered Australia’s most important relationship in the region. Yet Australian actions belie this rhetoric: Australia spied on the wife of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono; Tony Abbott attacked Indonesia for putting to death Australians who broke anti-drug laws; Julia Gillard surprising Jakarta with the news that US marines would be based in Darwin.

Australia’s prime ministers and senior ministers, even before the pandemic curtailed global travel, had ratcheted down personal engagement in the region. This has been constantly bemoaned by Australia’s regional envoys. 

Once regular visitors to the region, ministers — with only rare exceptions in recent years — have travelled there only during the summit season to sign increasingly marginal trade pacts or manage one of the emergencies that usually involve heavy media coverage of Australians in trouble.

Most countries in the region also feel the Chinese threat — although their need to balance it with the opportunity of investment is far more urgent than their wealthy southern neighbour. 

Yet they have been completely ignored by the AUKUS. And while most may be pleased that the US has clearly signalled its continuing focus on the region — a project begun by former president Barack Obama — the inclusion of one of the region’s least-loved former colonialists, the UK, will be hard to believe.

The UK’s involvement has reminded some regional figures of the failed post-war colonialist attempt for strategic dominance in South-East Asia by the Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) that ran from 1954 to 1977. It included only two South-East Asian nations — the Philippines and Thailand — with the US, UK (then running Hong Kong and what is now East Malaysia), Australia (then running Papua New Guinea), former Indochina colonialist France, New Zealand and south Asian countries Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Indonesia and many other South-East Asian nations, especially Malaysia, fear the AUKUS alliances will prompt China to up its arms ante. However, nations at the forefront of China’s claims — especially Vietnam, the Philippines and Singapore — will be more in favour.

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke of the upside of the deal for the region, saying he hoped it would “contribute constructively to the peace and stability of the region and complement the regional architecture”. 

Still, the AUKUS pact does help Indonesia position itself as an arguably needed regional non-aligned counterweight. That’s a good thing for the rest of the region, even if the Morrison government does not realise it.

The mixed reactions — and the potential threat the AUKUS poses to peace in the region (even if its stated intent is otherwise) has cast more doubt over Australia’s commitment and trustworthiness. As one former senior diplomat said: “It throws up a whole set of questions about Australia’s reliability and preparedness to be a part of South-East Asia and, perhaps more disturbingly, the same sort of questions about Washington.”

Have Scott Morrison and his ministers damaged Australia’s delicate relationship with our regional neighbours? Let us know your thoughts by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name if you would like to be considered for publication in Crikey’s Your Say column. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.