Prime Minister Scott Morrison has delivered a major speech on foreign policy, emphasising the important of the rule-based trading system and free trade.
Morrison emphasised Australia’s willingness to engage in the Indo-Pacific region. He stressed the importance of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), whilst maintaining the relevance of the Australia, New Zealand, United States (ANZUS) alliance.
Morrison warned of “gathering clouds in the global economy”. He said a worsening trading relationship between China and the United States “is not inevitable”.
“We embrace free trade, global engagement and an international system where we agree rules, stick to them and honour our commitments,” Morrison said.
Watch Morrison’s speech (34m):
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Transcript of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s “Where We Live” Address to Asialink-Bloomberg.
PRIME MINISTER SCOTT MORRISON: Thank you to Asialink and Bloomberg for the opportunity to address you here today prior to my attending the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Osaka this weekend.
Today I want to talk about our plan to foster an open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific, consistent with our national interests.
I would like to set out the principles, consistent with our national values, that will guide my Government’s engagement with the Indo-Pacific region.
Launching a paper, “Finding a Place on the Asia Stage”, by Carillo Gantner and Allison Carol, at the University of Melbourne’s ASIALINK centre, Rudd said there has been a decline in the teaching of the four principal languages of Asia: Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian and Korean.