With multiple initiatives set to launch, 2021 was supposed to be the year Australia pivoted to Southeast Asia. Recent events in Myanmar will make this more challenging, but the underlying reasons for investing in Southeast Asia remain.
At the start of 2020, consultations for a new international development policy were full of voices worrying that Australia was stepping away from Southeast Asia following its Pacific step-up announcement. But by year’s end, the government had announced significant funding for a variety of projects across Southeast Asian nations.
In May, the ‘Partnerships for recovery’ development policy placed a priority on the Pacific and Southeast Asia as Australia’s immediate region. The rationale was clear: ‘These are the places where we have the most extensive partnerships and can have most impact.’ In July, the defence strategic update announced a decisive refocus on Australia’s immediate region, from the northeastern Indian Ocean through maritime and mainland Southeast Asia to the Southwest Pacific.