Australia's proposal for an 'Asia Pacific Community': issues and prospects

• Frank Frost
• Parliamentary Library

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07 December 2009• In June 2008 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced that Australia would seek to encourage development of an ‘Asia Pacific Community’ by 2020. He argued that no existing cooperation forum so far brings together the whole Asia Pacific region and it was therefore desirable to review the region’s ‘architecture’. This paper surveys the background to and recent evolution of this proposal.

• After outlining the recent development of major cooperation forums in the very diverse East Asia and Asia Pacific regions, the paper discusses the proposal made by Australia since June 2008. It then surveys the range of academic, political and other responses which have followed, from within Australia and the region.

• The paper presents the key findings of the Government’s Special Envoy Richard Woolcott, who has suggested that although there is little enthusiasm in the region for creating distinctly new institutions, there is a high degree of interest in discussing further how cooperation processes may be enhanced.

• The paper reviews recent developments relevant to evolving debates, including the changing emphases of the new governments in the United States and Japan and discussions at the East Asia Summit in October 2009. It suggests that several factors will be important in further consideration of Australia’s proposal. These include determining the appropriate membership and institutional arrangements and cooperation styles in a revised dialogue, and considering the implications of such a revised dialogue for existing regional groupings.