Does Australia have a regional role in our era? You would hardly think so, given that Down Under – the way Aussies refer to the position of their country in the scheme of things, based on the Eurocentric map projections of centuries ago – arouses at best polite interest among international relations experts. Australia isn’t a nuclear power and does not belong to large regional organisations like ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Australia, as the sixth-biggest country in landmass, solidly entrenched among the 15 most prosperous economies, ranked an impressive second in the UNDP’s Human Development Report 2009 index, and equipped with a credible defence system, has strength in the Pacific region, despite a population of only 22 million. With President Barack Obama due to visit Canberra in June to mark 70 years of US-Australian cooperation, internal debate on national security has raised many questions in the context of an Asia-Pacific region in turmoil.
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