Speech
to the Australian Chamber of Commerce
Shanghai, 11 November 2002
Terrorism and Stability in the Region: The Australian Government's
Perspective
Introduction
Thank you Kate [Dunmore McLean, Chair China Australian Chamber of
Commerce], Ambassador David Irvine, Governor of NSW, Her Excellency
Professor Marie Bashir AC, Senator Tchen, Consul General, Sam Gerovich,
Ladies and Gentlemen ,
It is a pleasure to be back in Shanghai.
As you know, I am here to participate in the Celebrate Australia
2002, the week long presentation of Australian culture at the prestigious
International Shanghai Arts Festival.
It is the first time a foreign country has been asked to participate
at the festival, and it is a fitting tribute in this 30th
anniversary year of the establishment of diplomatic relations between
Australia and China.
It is also I believe - an acknowledgement of the extent to which
Australia, and Australians, have cemented a place in China and more
widely in the region.
Your presence here today as representatives of the Australian business
community in Shanghai testifies to the remarkable growth in trade
and investment between our two countries, as well as to the people-to-people
links that have flourished.
____________________
Ladies and gentlemen
I could focus my talk today on China and the ever increasing strength
of our bilateral relationship, not just in the economic and political
spheres, but also, as evidenced by Celebrate Australia 2002, in our
cultural and people-to-people links.
Rather - and given the Australian character of our gathering here
this morning - I thought it might be timely to give you an Australian
government perspective on the recent bombings in Bali, and the threat
of terrorism for Australia and the region.
I also want to talk briefly about a second threat to the strategic
environment that of the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and
the problems posed by North Korea, in particular.
Finally, I want to share a couple of thoughts with you about the
importance of a continued Australian presence and engagement in the
region including the Australian business community.
The Australian outlook - terrorism
Australia's security outlook and perspective has been sharpened by
the bombing in Bali on the 12th of October.
At least 180 people were killed - almost half of them Australian.
We also know of more than 100 Australians injured, some very seriously,
as a result of the bombing.
And, of course, we know of scores of Indonesian casualties, not to
mention the enormous damage done to Bali and Indonesia more widely.
We don't know for sure yet who was responsible for the attacks in
Bali.
But they bear all the hallmarks of international terrorism with
a disturbing twist in that the attacks took aim at soft' targets
innocent tourists with deadly effect.
For Australia, first, the Bali bombings underscore that terrorism
is in Australia's region it is on our doorstep.
The bombings remind us, brutally, that no one is immune, and everybody
is threatened.
Second, the bombings also raise fundamental questions about security
in the region.
With few exceptions, such as New Zealand and Singapore, the countries
of our region face real challenges in developing the capacity to confront,
and defeat, terrorism.
In addition, if left unchecked, terrorism has the potential to obstruct
the welcome trend towards a mature democracy in Indonesia, and to
destabilise other countries in our region.
The bombings have tested the maturity and resolve of the institutions
of state the central administration, local authorities, police,
intelligence services and the armed forces - in Indonesia.
I must emphasise that the Bali bombings do not represent a clash
between Islamic and Western norms, cultures and civilisations.
The war against terrorism is a clash, instead, between tolerance
and moderation, on the one hand, and, on the other, zealotry and extremism.
The attacks in Bali aimed at Westerners in a predominantly Hindu
enclave of a country with the world's largest Muslim population
demonstrate that only too clearly.
They were as much an attack on democratic, moderate forces in Indonesia
as they are on the West.
And they remain part of an extremist campaign to establish Taliban-style
regimes throughout South East Asia. a campaign we know is heavily
influenced and funded from the Middle East.
_________________________
None of what has happened in recent weeks has tempered our resolve
to fight terrorism.
We cannot purchase immunity by silence, or inaction, on acts of indiscriminate,
yet very deliberate, violence.
We cannot simply curl up in a ball and pretend it is not there, or
that it won't happen to us.
To do so would be to play into the hands of the perpetrators of these
crimes.
The events of the past few weeks do not give us any reason to review
our longstanding policy of engagement in our region.
Indeed, if anything, our economic, political, defence and security
ties with East Asia and the South West Pacific have provided a strong
base to cooperate with other countries to overcome the scourge of
terrorism.
We have been working hard in our region particularly in South East
Asia - to strengthen intelligence, law enforcement, and counter-terrorism
capabilities.
Australia has concluded agreements designed to enhance counter-terrorism
cooperation with Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.
And we are negotiating further such agreements with other key regional
countries, including the Philippines.
Australia also has taken the lead in having the ASEAN Regional Forum
focus on ways of promoting regional counter-terrorism cooperation.
We have co-hosted a Pacific Islands regional counter-terrorism workshop,
to help small island countries develop counter-terrorism legislation.
That way they can meet the reporting requirements of the UN Counter
Terrorism Committee.
We shall jointly host with Indonesia a conference to combat terrorist
financing and money laundering.
And we will continue working with Indonesia to ensure that the will
and resolve to identify, capture and bring to justice the perpetrators
of the horrendous crime in Bali remains steadfast.
___________________
There are some who have suggested that the Bali bombings, so close
to home, should be cause for re-thinking our commitments further afield.
I don't believe we can draw a convenient distinction between our
actions close to home, and our contribution globally.
Our effort must remain resolute, sustained and mature in nature,
and global, regional and domestic in place.
Australia has troops on the ground in Afghanistan, as part of our
contribution to the international coalition forces there.
And we will continue to play our role in diplomatic, intelligence,
development assistance and other activities to ensure that the war
against terrorism, wherever it needs to be, can be sustained.
The civilised world has to be prepared to consider military action
against terrorism where a State is protecting or sponsoring terrorism,
such as in Afghanistan, or where a State requests assistance, such
as in the Philippines.
At home, we have strengthened legislation to proscribe terrorist
organisations and give relevant agencies the powers they need to hunt
down terrorists and sever their sources of finance.
Some of you will have seen the publicity attached to ASIO and police
investigations of individuals in Australia with possible links to
Jemah Islamiyah, now listed by the UN as a terrorist organisation.
We make no apologies for the fact of the investigations, nor the
manner in which they are being carried out the authorities are entitled
to every reasonable protection in the event of danger.
In the end our primary obligation must be a preparedness to defend
our sovereignty and the political and economic systems that express
our values and freedoms.
_____________________
Ladies and gentlemen
Some of you will have noted the issue of our travel advice to Australian
citizens has arisen in the aftermath of the Bali bombings.
The simple fact is that we cannot predict events deliberate or
accidental which result in the death or injury of Australians overseas.
What we can do and we do it diligently is to warn the Australian
public on the basis of the information available to us about the risks
to Australians in particular places.
Those warnings are conveyed, in unambiguous terms, in the Government's
travel advices.
Sometimes that advice may result in fewer Australians travelling,
or may annoy or offend the authorities of the host country.
But as the elected government of Australia, our first responsibility
is to the interests of Australians, and not to the interests of others.
North Korea & Weapons of mass destruction
Ladies and gentlemen
Terrorism is an immediate threat to our security.
So too, however, is the spread of nuclear, chemical, biological and
radiological weapons and the means of delivering them.
The prospect of links between terrorists, weapons of mass destruction,
and certain states we know are responsible for their proliferation,
also has to be confronted.
That is why we support a tough new Security Council regime for immediate,
unimpeded, unconditional and unrestricted access to suspected weapons
of mass destruction sites in Iraq.
In our own region East Asia we are faced with the possibility
of a nuclear armed North Korea.
Pyongyang's admission that it has a uranium enrichment program is
renewed cause for grave concern about North Korea's intentions.
Like Iraq, North Korea has international obligations to which it
has not lived up: in this case the 1968 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation
of Nuclear Weapons, the 1994 US-DPRK Agreed Framework, its 1992 joint
declaration with South Korea on the de-nuclearisation of the Korean
Peninsula, and North Korea's IAEA Safeguards Agreement.
Australia has been a strong supporter of the Agreed Framework under
which the DPRK undertook to freeze its nuclear program and comply
with its nuclear non-proliferation obligations.
Our support has included financial contributions to KEDO, the Korean
Peninsula Energy Development Organisation, established under the Agreed
Framework to build two light water reactors in return for the freeze
on the DPRK's proliferation sensitive graphite moderated reactors
and related facilities.
We cannot turn a blind eye to North Korea's transgressions.
They threaten peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and the
region more broadly, making more difficult the process of reconciliation
so painstakingly pursued under South Korean President Kim Dae Jung's
"sunshine" policy of engagement with the North.
Australia is consulting regional partners the United States, South
Korea, Japan, China and Russia - on ways North Korea can be turned
away from developing nuclear weapons.
This was an important item of discussion at the annual Australia-US
Ministerial Meeting in Washington on 26 October.
APEC Leader's meeting in Los Cabos, Mexico issued a strong statement
calling on the DPRK to honor its commitment to give up nuclear weapons
programs.
North Korea must not be rewarded for bad behaviour. Abandoning its
nuclear weapons program once and for all is very much in the DPRK's
interests, including its prospects for economic development and improving
relations with its neighbours.
The importance of business
Ladies and gentlemen
The conditions for growth and stability including in Australia's
region are the same the world over.
Good governance - freedom of expression and association, transparency
and accountability, democracy and the rule of law is fundamental.
Economic openness to exchanges in trade, technology, investment
and intellectual property is essential.
And access to basic services such as healthcare and education and
through it the opportunity to work and earn a living for oneself and
one's family - is requisite.
Part of the terrorist agenda is to force economies to turn borders
into barriers, to erect walls behind which people live in fear, behind
which businesses avoid risk and behind which economies including
those most in need of development - stagnate.
We cannot indeed, must not shirk our shared responsibility to
openness, transparency and accountability in the Asia Pacific region
- in government, in business, and in the wider community.
Because an integrated and prosperous region, trading and investing
with the rest of the world, is the basis for stability and peace.
You the Australian business community in China have an important
role to play in restoring growth and confidence in the region.
Conclusion
Ladies and gentlemen
For Australia, the best means of accommodating and influencing changing
dynamics in the region is to play to our strengths.
We are a robust, industrialised economy, politically stable, with
mature institutions and the rule of law well entrenched.
We are a tolerant, diverse, and well educated society, with much
to contribute to the region in terms of our skills and interactions.
And we are thoroughly engaged through our economic, political,
military and people-to-people links - in the region.
Once again, you the Australian business community in China are
an important part of that projection.
I believe most strongly that the Australian business presence
overseas expresses cogently the Australian prerogative to remain engaged,
and to demonstrate our strengths.
I trust that your continued presence here in Shanghai will remain
testament to Australia's strength of character and resolve, in these
difficult times.
Thank you.
This page last modified:
Monday, 11-Nov-2002 16:14:51 EST
Local Date:
Sunday, 05-Jul-2009 11:22:43 EST
