Australia: balancing on the international stage is becoming difficult

In late April to early May, Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong, went on a tour of East Asian countries, having visited Japan, China and South Korea. The aim of this trip was Canberra’s desire to maintain a foreign policy balance among the region’s key players. However, achieving this goal is becoming increasingly difficult.

Strengthening defence policy: a new priority for Australia

The tour by the head of the Australian foreign ministry can also be viewed as an attempt at domestic political balancing. It was intended to partially compensate for the growing influence of the Ministry of Defence and, more broadly, the increasing role of the national security factor in the country’s state policy. Two years ago, these changes in Canberra’s political course were already discussed in terms of the adoption of two strategic documents in the field of military development: the ‘National Defence Strategy’ and the ‘Integrated Investment Program’.

However, at that time, Australia predicted that due to the rapidly changing situation in the Indo-Pacific region, both documents might be revised as early as 2026. That is exactly what happened this April, when their new editions were published. These are two extensive documents on which only the most general comments can be made here.

It should be noted that the Australian government plans to allocate a number of resources, which is impressive even by global standards, for the radical modernisation of the national armed forces. Specifically, over the next ten years, between 94 and 130 billion Australian dollars will be spent on sharply increasing the potential of ‘undersea warfare,’ the main component of which will be nuclear-powered submarines ‘with conventional armament.’ The........

© New Eastern Outlook