ASEAN and Australia in Shaping a Shared Future

H.E. Tiffany McDonald commenced her posting as the new Australian Ambassador to ASEAN in January 2024. Ambassador McDonald has worked for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) for over 20 years and had served as Australia’s High Commissioner to Brunei, and at diplomatic posts in the UK, Korea, Indonesia, Brunei, France, and the Holy See.  

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AF: Ambassador McDonald, congratulations on your recent appointment! With ASEAN and Australia marking 50 years of partnership this year, which were the top three outcomes of the Special Commemorative Summit in Melbourne that stood out to you?

Ambassador McDonald: Thank you! It is a privilege to have taken up the position of Australian Ambassador to ASEAN at such a consequential time, as we commemorate 50 years since Australia became ASEAN’s first Dialogue Partner. We were honoured to welcome ASEAN Leaders, the Prime Minister of Timor-Leste, and the Secretary-General of ASEAN to Melbourne in early March to celebrate this milestone at the Australia-ASEAN Special Summit. The three outcomes which stand out to me are:

Australia announced over A$500 million in funding for a range of new and expanded initiatives which support its shared key priorities with ASEAN. This adds to the already extensive engagement Australia has in implementing our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with ASEAN since its agreement in 2021. The initiatives include establishing a dedicated ASEAN-Australia Centre to drive greater Southeast Asia literacy within Australia, providing more than 75 new Aus4ASEAN Scholarships and 55 ASEAN fellowships to support ASEAN leaders to study in Australia in fields which advance the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP), improving access to visas, and more.

Several initiatives will support the implementation of Invested: Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040, which aims to build two-way trade and investment between Australia and Southeast Asia, such as a Southeast Asia Investment Financing Facility. This is projected to provide A$2 billion in loans to catalyse Australian private sector investment in Southeast Asia.

The second key outcome was the significance of Australia’s Prime Minister and ASEAN Leaders coming together to discuss the depth and breadth of ASEAN-Australia cooperation on our shared priorities and interests, in an open, inclusive, and prosperous region. Together, we agreed on two significant documents: the ASEAN-Australia Joint Leaders’ Vision Statement, which commits us to work together to contribute to the maintenance of regional peace and stability, and the Melbourne Declaration, which highlights key areas of ASEAN-Australia cooperation and our shared views on regional and international issues.

Last, it was great that ASEAN and Australia were able to progress in discussions on shared priorities in line with the Special Summit’s Thematic Tracks: Business, Climate and Clean Energy Transition, Emerging Leaders, and Maritime Cooperation. These tracks brought together government officials, business representatives, the ASEAN Secretariat, the next generation of leaders, industry groups, and academia to provide new ideas.

AF: Given the profound geographical connections between Australia and ASEAN, can you identify three common challenges that necessitate collaborative efforts for the benefit of our region?

Ambassador McDonald: In my view, Australian and ASEAN Leaders covered the broad range of issues that require collaborative efforts to the benefit of our region. You just need to look at the 55 paragraphs of the Melbourne Declaration to realise the extent of our collaborative efforts. If I had to narrow it to three common challenges, I think the focus of the Special Summit’s Thematic Tracks reflected some common challenges well.

For example, climate change and the transition to clean energy present challenges and opportunities for the region. Energy use in Southeast Asia is expected to double by 2050, with Southeast Asia needing an estimated 454GW in additional generation capacity between 2021 and 2050, with around 60 per cent of this in renewables. We are already collaborating closely with ASEAN on this issue, with Australia supporting ASEAN to develop its ASEAN Strategy for Carbon Neutrality through the Aus4ASEAN Futures Initiative and an ASEAN-Australia High-Level Dialogue on Climate Change and Energy Transition in September last year. The Special Summit’s Climate and Clean Energy Track, led by Australia’s Ambassador for Climate Change Ms Kristin Tilley, advanced these discussions by bringing together over 160 participants from Australia, ASEAN countries, and Timor-Leste to boost collaboration and investment in the region’s clean energy transition. Participants discussed decarbonisation pathways and clean energy technologies. Australia has also announced an A$6.9 million Energy Cooperation Package through our Aus4ASEAN Futures Initiative, which will enhance ASEAN-led regional energy policy and planning and support the ASEAN Centre for Energy and ASEAN Centre for Climate Change.

Another challenge we face is on maritime cooperation and the need to prevent miscalculation spilling into conflict in our region – we know this would be devastating to our communities and economies. For example, in terms of maritime security, our region connects the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Southeast Asia’s waters are some of the most important maritime spaces in the world in terms of global trade, food and energy security, and marine biodiversity. The peace, stability and prosperity of Southeast Asia and the region more broadly, is anchored to a great extent on the waters surrounding the region. We must ensure the waterways that serve us all remain open and accessible, and are governed by long established rules and norms, particularly the 1982 United Nations’ Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In recognition of the challenges and opportunities presented in the maritime domain, the Special Summit’s Maritime Cooperation Track brought together officials and academics from ASEAN Member States (AMS), Timor-Leste, the ASEAN Secretariat, and Australia, including for the first Track 1.5 Dialogue on maritime cooperation between ASEAN and Australia.

Of course, there is also the challenge of creating prosperity for the people of ASEAN and Australia. Last year, our Prime Minister launched Invested: Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 at the sidelines of the ASEAN Summits in Jakarta. The Strategy outlines how Australian and Southeast Asian business and government can work together to boost our two-way economic engagement and build our shared prosperity. The Special Summit’s Business Track focused on the sectors identified in the Strategy, bringing together ASEAN and Australian CEOs and SMEs to strengthen our two-way trade and investment relationships. Our broader spectrum of ASEAN-Australia cooperation also works to address this challenge, including in areas such as food security and implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area. The Aus4ASEAN Futures Initiative is also taking forward ASEAN-led projects, including in areas which will accelerate ASEAN’s digital integration and advance the Initiative for ASEAN Integration.

AF: In this rapidly changing geopolitical landscape, ASEAN and Australia are required to adapt continuously. Have you observed any alignment between ASEAN and Australia in the Indo-Pacific and if both sides can work together in shaping the regional security architecture?

Ambassador McDonald: Yes, there’s certainly alignment between ASEAN and Australia in the Indo-Pacific. Australia is a strong supporter of ASEAN’s vision for the region, as outlined in the AOIP. We strongly support its key principles, such as ASEAN Centrality, transparency, openness, and a rules-based approach. PM Albanese and the ASEAN leaders agreed in their joint statement to uphold principles that underpin our vision for the region – such as the desire for a region where sovereignty and territorial integrity are respected, where differences are managed through respectful dialogue rather than the threat or use of force, and the need for ASEAN and Australia to work together for the maintenance of peace and stability.

As our Foreign Minister Penny Wong said at the Special Summit, protecting agreed rules, upholding international law, preventing conflict, and building strategic trust are now more important than ever. Working together to shape and uphold the regional architecture is not only something we can do, but something we must do. It’s something we regularly engage in together through the ASEAN-led regional architecture via the East Asia Summit (EAS), ASEAN Regional Forum and the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus. Earlier this year, Australia, Indonesia, and Malaysia co-hosted a Track 2 workshop on Conflict Prevention and the ASEAN-led Regional Architecture, where academics from all AMS and EAS partners were able to discuss and put forward practical recommendations to enhance ASEAN’s conflict prevention capacity. I look forward to continuing this work with ASEAN.

AF: As a member of the Quad and the AUKUS (the trilateral security partnership between Australia, the UK, and the U.S.), there have been criticisms that these minilateral initiatives will undermine ASEAN Centrality. What would your response be?

Ambassador McDonald: As a start, I want to emphasise that Australia seeks to listen to and understand the region’s perspectives and priorities – understanding and responding to concerns is part of that.

In terms of the Quad, this is a practical diplomatic partnership committed to offering enduring benefits to the Indo-Pacific. By leveraging the combined resources and strengths of Australia, India, Japan, and the U.S., we can deliver more together than we can individually. Through the Quad, Australia is supporting the region to tackle climate change and manage the energy transition, respond to outbreaks of disease, provide technical assistance and research on undersea cables, and increase maritime domain awareness.

The Quad serves to deepen and better coordinate our engagement in the region bilaterally and through key regional institutions – we see the Quad as working alongside ASEAN. In fact, members of the Quad work together closely with ASEAN already, with all Quad members also being ASEAN Dialogue Partners. The Quad has consistently reaffirmed its unwavering support for ASEAN Centrality and we are  committed to ensuring the Quad’s work aligns with ASEAN’s principles and priorities.

AUKUS is different to the Quad in that it is a trilateral security partnership. Australia works to maintain the conditions for peace through our diplomacy, while playing our part in transparent, collective deterrence of aggression. Our enhanced defence capabilities – including through AUKUS – are one part of these efforts that make Australia a more capable security partner for the region, contributing to the maintenance of strategic balance and collective security. Australia’s approach to AUKUS is based on the principles of transparency, responsibility and predictability. We are engaging extensively with Indo-Pacific partners – including ASEAN Member States and the ASEAN Secretariat – to provide regular updates on our approach in a transparent manner.

AF: With growing uncertainties in the region including the Myanmar crisis, disputes in the South China Sea and tensions in the Taiwan Strait, what can ASEAN do to maintain its relevance and leadership role in the region to address these issues and how can Australia play a part?

Ambassador McDonald: While there are challenges facing ASEAN and the region, I would emphasise that ASEAN is already maintaining its relevance and leadership role in the region. It remains the primary norm-setting body in our region. It also has unmatched convening power, continuing to bring together all the key players in the Indo-Pacific through its architecture, including the EAS. Ongoing new applications for different types of partnerships with ASEAN from a range of countries and new signatories to the Treaty on Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia is evidence of how the world views ASEAN’s ongoing relevance.

Continuing to address some of the complex issues you highlighted will still no doubt be an important part of ASEAN’s leadership. Steps are already being taken: for example, on maritime security, Australia welcomed the ASEAN Solidarity Exercise 2023 – ASEAN’s first joint maritime military exercise – which is helping to demonstrate its capacity for collective action and mutual support. We welcomed last year’s statement by the ASEAN Foreign Ministers on Maintaining and Promoting Stability in the Maritime Sphere in Southeast Asia – a great example of ASEAN using its voice to express concerns about developments that threaten regional peace and security in the maritime domain. ASEAN has also played a part in the context of Cross Strait relations. In 2022, during a period of heightened tensions, ASEAN released its Foreign Ministers’ Statement on The Cross Strait Development reiterating the utility of ASEAN-led mechanisms to deescalate tension and safeguard peace, security, and development in the region.

Australia remains deeply concerned about the worsening political, security and humanitarian situation in Myanmar. The protracted crisis has serious implications for regional security and stability. Australia maintains our strong support for ASEAN’s efforts to resolve the crisis in Myanmar, including the constructive efforts of the ASEAN Chair and its Special Envoy. We are dismayed that the regime continues to disregard its commitments under the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus.

As our Foreign Minister has said, the strength of ASEAN’s collective voice “resonates throughout the region when it speaks on its view of the importance of sovereignty and rules”. Continuing to use this voice is central to ASEAN’s leadership. For its part, Australia sees ASEAN and its regional architecture as indispensable for dialogue and we will continue to support its leadership and resilience in this regard. What Australia can do, as ASEAN’s first Dialogue Partner and a Comprehensive Strategic Partner, is to continue to support the effectiveness and resilience of ASEAN Centrality not only in our words but in our actions – through a commitment to the norms and principles established by ASEAN; through supporting concrete implementation of those norms and principles, for example under the AOIP; and through delivering support that responds to ASEAN’s priorities and meets the needs of the peoples of Southeast Asia. Australia will always be guided by the truth that ASEAN and Australia share a region and a future together.

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Editor’s Note:
ASEANFocus+ articles are timely critical insight pieces published by the ASEAN Studies Centre.