Anglo world grows closer
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has proclaimed a new role for Britain in Asia and a new commitment to its relationship with Australia, on the first day of his three-day Sydney visit.
In an exclusive interview with The Australian, Mr Johnson said a key purpose of his trip, which has taken in Japan and New Zealand, was to convey that: “We are now going to be more committed to the Asia-Pacific region and more committed to Australia.”
He is optimistic about the prospects for an early free-trade agreement with Australia following Britain’s exit from the EU.
Mr Johnson made another passionate defence of Britain’s decision to leave the EU, citing Australia as an example Britain could follow.
“It’s fantastic to see the success of this country, it’s a repudiation of some of the gloom-mongering (around Brexit),” he said
“Just imagine if APEC had a court, and a parliament, and a currency, and a tendency to have a treaty every five years causing ever-greater integration. Would Australia sign up to that? Has Australia suffered from the lack of that?” Mr Johnson said Brexit gave the British government “the chance to think afresh about commercial opportunities and about the (Asian) region”.
Asia was an area of “fantastic growth” but also of “tension”, and regional nations wanted Britain to be more involved. “People want the involvement of a country that sticks up for the rules-based international system, that is prepared to deploy its military in the area as we are,” Mr Johnson said.
He will participate today with British Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon and their Australian counterparts, Julie Bishop and Marise Payne, in the annual Australia-Britain ministerial talks. They will canvass future trade opportunities, but the talks will focus primarily on security issues, in particular cyber security, North Korea, the South China Sea, counter-terrorism, the fight against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and the return of foreign fighters.
Canberra has pressed London to take a higher profile in Asia. As well as the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing arrangements, Australia is involved in a collective security agreement with Britain in Asia, the Five Power Defence Arrangements, with Malaysia, Singapore and New Zealand.
When asked about China’s behaviour in the South China Sea, Mr Johnson said nations should follow the international court ruling on the issue.
Last July the Permanent Court of Arbitration issued a ruling based on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which held that Beijing had no claims to the islands it had occupied in the South China Sea which had traditionally been controlled by The Philippines, and that it had violated the rights of other nations in its actions there.
Mr Johnson said: “It is absolutely clear the UNCLOS ruling must be abided by. We believe the Law of the Sea is there to be honoured. We do not want to see the militarisation of that area.”
JOHN LYONS
Associate Editor (Digital Content)Sydney@TheLyonsDen
It’s time we looked on the brighter side of this sometimes-tumultuous world.
That’s the unmistakeable message today to Australians from the nation’s longest-serving Foreign Minister.
Alexander Downer, the High Commissioner to the UK, has painted an optimistic picture of life-after-Brexit, pointing to “great opportunities” for Australia.
Mr Downer rejected the portrayal in some parts of the media that the UK had been subsumed by instability and dysfunction.
He said that Australia intended to negotiate free trade agreements separately with the European Union and, after Brexit, the UK.
He said that if Australia was able to conclude a free-trade agreement with the EU by March 2019 — a market of 500 million people — it meant that this would be “in situ” by the time Australia began negotiations with the post-Brexit UK.
On a visit to Australia, Mr Downer told a lunch at the Centre for independent Studies in Sydney: “I am trying to persuade people while I’m here that the UK isn’t part of some so-called populist revolution that is apparently happening around the world which threatens the stability of the planet.”
Mr Downer said the decision of the British public to leave the European Union (EU) — the so-called Brexit vote — was consistent with the scepticism that Britons had long held towards the EU.
“Britain was slow to get into the EU, it got in, then it was always looking for opt outs,” he said.
“They (Britons) never really signed up to this vision.”
Mr Downer was appointed Higher Commissioner in 2014 and his term is due to end later this year.
However, no replacement has yet been announced for the position, considered one of the most desirable jobs on the diplomatic circuit.
A theme of Mr Downer address was that instability — in the UK and in the US with the Trump administration — was exaggerated.
“Every era is called an era of unprecedented uncertainty,” he said.
“There is always uncertainty around, there is always change.”
Asked about instability around the world, Mr Downer said: “The most important geopolitical change today is the rise of China.”
He said that among some Australians the traditionally-close relationship with the UK had become “unfashionable.”
But this, he said, did not make sense.
The UK was a permanent member of the UN Security Council, was a nuclear power, was the fifth largest economy in the world and had “huge soft power.”
“Only the US has more soft power,” he said.
The UK was also the second-largest source of total foreign investment in Australia and was the second-largest destination of Australian investment abroad, behind the US.
“There are more British-born people living in Australia than any other country, apart from Britain,” he said.
“And there are more British-born people living in Australia than the entire European Union.
“Between our governments there is a relationship of great trust.”
He added: “It would be a major mistake if in Australian foreign policy we did not leverage our very close relationship with the UK.”
Mr Downer said when Theresa May was elected by her party as Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull telephoned her and said Australia wanted to pursue a free-trade agreement with the UK once it had left the European Union.
Mr Downer said the commitment Australia had to liberal, open markets was shared by the UK.
The relationship with the UK was “a huge force multiplier” for Australian diplomacy “and we should make the most of it.”