Issues in Australian foreign policy: January to June 1998

The three foreign policy issues that dominated headlines in the first six months of 1998 were the renewed tensions in the Persian Gulf, the financial and political crisis in Indonesia, and the staging of nuclear tests by India and Pakistan. In the first instance none of these issues directly involved Australia and yet the Howard Government judged each of them as potential threats to Australia's national interests and thus to require an appropriate response. Although the Australian Government took some multilateral initiatives in response to the three issues -such as its proposal to fast-track negotiations for a verification protocol to the Biological Weapons regime as part of its response to the Iraqi crisis - the formulation of Australia's policy in each case primarily involved a careful balancing of its bilateral relationship with the US against any other concerns, such as that of Australia's complex relationship with Indonesia. Australia's readiness to support the United States in the Gulf no doubt stemmed, at least in part, from the government view that Australia's alliance with the United States is necessary for Australian security just as the government perceived the continuing engagement of the US in the Asia-Pacific to be important to regional security. During the period under discussion the ongoing financial crisis in Asia and political turbulence in Indonesia exacerbated the unpredictability of the more complex post-Cold War regional security environment.