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All countries should do 'everything we can' to help build guardrails in Sino-US relationship: Australian PM

SINGAPORE — All countries should do "everything we can do" to support the building of "guardrails" in the relationship between the United States and China, as the consequences of a conflict will not be confined to these big powers, said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. 

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese giving the keynote address for the 20th IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, on June 2, 2023.

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese giving the keynote address for the 20th IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, on June 2, 2023.

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  • Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese delivered the keynote speech at the Shangri-La dialogue held in Singapore on Friday evening (June 2)
  • Mr Albanese was speaking amid increased tensions between the United States and China, which are expected to dominate the weekend of high-level speeches
  • He said that "guardrails" between the US-China relationship are essential in preventing an escalation of conflict
  • One such guardrail is continued dialogue between the superpowers 
  • Without dialogue, "there is always a much greater risk of assumptions spilling over into irretrievable action and reaction", he said

SINGAPORE — All countries should do "everything we can do" to support the building of "guardrails" in the relationship between the United States and China, as the consequences of a conflict will not be confined to these big powers, said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. 

Mr Albanese said this during his keynote speech at the Shangri-La dialogue in Singapore on Friday evening (June 2), adding that while these guardrails are absolutely necessary, they alone are insufficient, and that a set of rules respected by all is needed as well. 

"Because, while we welcome any safeguard against a crash, there must also be a set of rules that serve all of us who use the road," said Mr Albanese in his first official visit to Singapore as Australian PM. 

Mr Albanese was speaking amid increased tensions between the US and China, which are expected to dominate the weekend of high-level speeches and backroom military dealings. 

Earlier in the week, Beijing had declined a US invitation for a meeting at the dialogue, which runs from June 2 to 4, between Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu. 

Amid such tensions, Mr Albanese said that the Southeast Asian region, being focused on "preserving peace and security", is sometimes seen as a "potential theatre for conflict, as if this is merely a backdrop, a location, an arena for the ambitions of others".   

He added that this is view is "entirely" and even "dangerously" wrong.

"Not only does such a characterisation dismiss the agency and ambition of a majority of the world's population and the engine room of the global economy, it also presents the future of this region as somehow a foregone conclusion," he said. 

DIALOGUE A CRUCIAL 'PRESSURE VALVE'

Mr Albanese said that the "guardrails" in the US-China relationship are similar to safety barriers at the side of roads. 

"This is about a policy of containment... It's not a question of placing obstacles in the way of any nation's progress or their potential," he said. "This is a matter of simple practical structures to prevent a worst case scenario."

He said that one "essential precondition" to this aspiration is dialogue, and that Australia supports the renewed efforts from US President Joe Biden's administration to establish "reliable and open channels of communication" between the two superpowers. 

He quoted Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in a speech he delivered earlier this year in China, where he had said that big powers have a "heavy responsibility to maintain stable and workable relationships with each other". 

This is because the alternative can only breed suspicion and make it easier for nations to attribute motives and assume the worst of one another, said Mr Albanese.

Mr Albanese added: "If you don't have the pressure valve of dialogue, if you don't have the capacity, at a decision making level, to pick up the phone to seek some clarity or provide some context, then there is always a much greater risk of assumptions spilling over into irretrievable action and reaction.

"The consequences of such a breakdown whether in the Taiwan Strait or elsewhere, would not be confined to the big powers or the side of the conflict, that would be devastating for the world." 

He added that this is why leaders and citizens in this region "should be doing everything we can to support the building of that first and most fundamental guardrail". 

NO ONE 'TOO BIG FOR THE RULES'

Mr Albanese said that while guardrails are necessary, they are not sufficient in maintaining peace and stability in the region.

There also has to be a set of rules which "go beyond a catalogue of principles or a set of ideals". 

"(The rules) must be adaptable for unforeseen challenges, like a pandemic, and it must be workable and meaningful, not just to those of you here practicing the artful formulations of statecraft, but to the citizens that we serve," he said. 

This depends on the set of rules being "fair and seen as fair" and also on them "working and being seen to work to uphold sovereignty". 

This should apply not just for the biggest powers or loudest voices, but for every nation, said Mr Albanese. 

Such sovereignty includes the right for a nation to determine its own destiny, to pursue opportunities for its people without fear of coercion, and to have confidence in the integrity of its borders. 

"If this breaks down, if one nation imagines itself too big for the rules are too powerful to be held to the standards that the rest of us respect, then our region’s strategic stability is undermined, and our individual national sovereignty is eroded," he added. 

AUSTRALIA 'OPEN' ABOUT NUCLEAR SUBS

Reiterating the importance of engagement and dialogue, Mr Albanese said that before Australia announced its purchase of as many as five nuclear-powered submarines from the US, the Australian government had spoken with every Asian-Pacific partner, and many other nations, with more than 60 calls being made.

This was part of a process of "being open and transparent with the region about our intentions, being clear with the region and the world, that Australia remains strongly committed to our obligations under the NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) and the Treaty of Rarotonga", he said. 

The Treaty of Rarotonga is the common name for the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, which formalises a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the South Pacific.

Australia had also cooperated with the International Atomic Energy Agency to set the "highest standards for any country acquiring this capability". 

The submarines were acquired under a newly formed alliance with the US and the United Kingdom known as Aukus, a trilateral security pact between the nations. 

Mr Albanese in his speech reaffirmed his nation's commitment to Aukus, as well as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), a diplomatic network with India, Japan and the United States.

Mr Albanese said that the ultimate goal of both pacts is in making the Indo-Pacific region a stable and peaceful one. 

He said that Australia's view is that both Quad and Aukus should "work as partners and not competitors, partners, not competitors". 

"In boosting our nation's defence capability, Australia's goal is not to prepare for war but to prevent it through deterrence and reassurance and building resilience in the region, doing our part to fulfill the shared responsibility all of us have to preserve peace and security," said Mr Albanese.

"When it comes to any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force, be it in Taiwan, South China Sea, the East China Sea or elsewhere, the risk of conflict will always far outweigh any potential reward." 

S'PORE A 'BRIDGE' FOR DIALOGUE: ANALYSTS

Reacting to Mr Albenese's speech, analysts say that Singapore, although a small country compared to the global superpowers, can play its part in strengthening the US-China relationship.

Dr Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow with Singapore’s Institute of International Affairs, said that Singapore's role in doing its part to create "guardrails" amid US-China tensions are twofold.

First, it can serve as a "bridge" for dialogue between both nations.
"It can continue to provide its good offices for dialogue and communication that would hopefully enable the building common guardrails for both sides," said Dr Oh.

Agreeing, Dr Mustafa Izzuddin, a senior international affairs analyst at management consultancy Solaris Strategies Singapore, said that Singapore can play its part as a “pragmatic realist”.

It can do this by ensuring that these guardrails do not end up becoming a divisive feature that “excludes rather than includes, fragmentises a region rather than integrates it, aggressively contains rather than constructively engages, and escalates conflict rather than promotes cooperation”, said Dr Mustafa.

“Singapore can continue with its efforts in practising hedge diplomacy through constructive engagement of both the US and China whilst using the soft power of diplomatic wisdom to prompt them about their strategic responsibility of maintaining the global order and international peace,” he added.

Dr Oh said that Singapore is also an "avid participant in the building of various international standards and norms".

This is evident, for instance, in its participation in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, as well as its various initiatives on combatting climate change. 

"Hence, (Singapore) could provide technical and professional assistance in the building of such guardrails," said Dr Oh. 

Related topics

Shangri-La Dialogue Anthony Albanese

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