Foreign Minister Penny Wong will use a major speech in Washington DC to urge President Joe Biden's administration to ramp-up economic engagement with Asia, while warning that "nationalistic domestic posturing" in both China and the US could fuel a catastrophic conflict.
Key points:
Senator Wong will say President Biden's "course confirms the US desire for stability and that we look to China to meet it"
She will say nations in Asia want partners to focus sharply on their economic needs and aren't "enthusiastic about great power competition"
The Biden administration needs to go much further in boosting business ties in the Indo-Pacific, Senator Wong will tell the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The foreign minister will also press Beijing to accept Mr Biden's call to put "guardrails" around great power competition, to help ensure it does not spiral into confrontation or war.
Senator Wong's speech to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace overnight on Wednesday comes at a critical moment for the US-China relationship following President Xi Jinping's meeting with Mr Biden last month.
Senator Wong is expected to praise Mr Biden's public overtures to Beijing, while quoting former prime minister Kevin Rudd's warnings about surging jingoism in China.
"We hope that, contrary to suggestions from some analysts, Beijing does see an interest in pursuing a joint strategic framework with Washington," she will say.
"We hope that what Kevin Rudd describes as 'the turbocharging of Chinese nationalism' has not made international cooperation impossible."
But she'll also make it clear that Australia is uneasy about the increasingly strident attacks on China in US politics, saying that leaders in both countries "need assurances that nationalistic domestic posturing" will not "sink their efforts to build safeguards".
"The kind of international leadership we need to prevent catastrophe must be supported and encouraged across the political systems of both China and America," the speech notes read.
"Equally, all of us with an interest in a region that respects sovereignty, and is open, stable and prosperous should be clear in our call: that President Biden's course confirms the US desire for stability and that we look to China to meet it.
"The region would be safer if they did."
Wong to warn against US economic isolationism
Senator Wong will also ramp-up her calls for the Biden administration not to neglect its economic ties with Asia, suggesting the US is leaning too heavily on its role as a critical security partner in the region.
The US has not joined most of the major multilateral economic trade agreements in Asia, with Washington steering clear of the sweeping CPTPP pact because of domestic political opposition.
Senator Wong will say the US and Australia need to work with countries in Asia on development, connectivity, digital trade and the energy transition.(Supplied: DFAT)Senator Wong will use the speech to say that while the US, Australia and many nations in Asia share a vision for a "stable" region, many regional countries are "not enthusiastic about great power competition", and want partners to focus sharply on their economic needs as well.
"So for the alliance to respond to the challenges of a changing region, we must accept that while we have done a good job on military deterrence and response capability, we have a great deal more to do to reduce the risk of conflict, and to influence the shaping of the region in our interests," the speech reads.
Senator Wong will say the US and Australia both need to "show our partners that we want to do business and create wealth with them" and "demonstrate that we have interests we want to nurture beyond security interests".
"The region sees development, connectivity, digital trade and the energy transition as vital domains in which consistent US leadership and influence would be welcome," she will say.
"America's decision not to proceed with the CPTPP is still being felt in the region."
Senator Wong's warning against US economic isolationism echoes some of the language used by some South-East Asian leaders, who have been pitching for greater US investment in the region.
'US allies must work together'
Earlier this week, for example, Singapore's Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen said while his country welcomed the increasing US security presence in Asia, Washington also needed to "up its game in the economic sphere, whether it is in Asia or globally."
"The question I am posing: Is American's presence in the Indo-Pacific primarily premised on security grounds adequate, and will it give you the kind of moral legitimacy that you had from the 1960s to the year 2000?" he said.
The Biden administration has defended its economic policies in Asia, pointing to the more limited Indo-Pacific Engagement Framework which it has used to try and boost business ties across a number of sectors.
Senator Wong will say that the "broad take-up" of the Framework "demonstrates the appetite for American economic leadership" in Asia, while still making it clear that the Biden administration needs to go much further.
"Plainly, there is a view in Washington that US allies must work together on principles of collective security," the speech reads.
"But we have reached a stage in the evolution of our alliances where they will increasingly require a fully developed economic dimension as well."/-
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