“Intervening” in the Neighbourhood

Abstract

Australia's position as a western country on the edge of Asia has long attracted comment. Within this broad context, Australia's position adjacent to the third-world situation of the southwest Pacific and eastern Indonesia has been a particular issue of concern for Australian governments. The region immediately adjoining Australia has been described as 'Australia's neighbourhood. With many conflicts affecting this region terms such as arc of or arc of have also come into vogue. Australia sees its immediately adjacent region as a frontier zone that is very much bound up with Australian security.Against this background this article poses a number of key questions about Australia's role in relation to two major crises that have occurred in the country's neighbourhood since the late 19903, both leading to Australian military intervention: East Timor in 1999 and Solomon Islands in 2003.' The key questions concern the perceptions and motivation of Australian governments in dealing with these situations, the means employed for undertaking intervention, the impact of intervention, and the long-term issues facing Australia for each of the relevant situations and the frontier zone more generally.The argument of the article is that Australian governments have approached the southwest Pacific and eastern Indonesia as a frontier zone within which Australia has a strong interest in maintaining stability. However, the way in which Australia has approached that goal has varied. In the southwest Pacific, Australia has the status of a hegemonic power and is much more directly involved. The willingness to intervene directly became stronger in the post-g/n era, although it was not until mid-2003 that action was taken in relation to the Solomons. In eastern Indonesia and environs, Australia of course is dealing with Indonesia, southeast Asia's largest country and the world's most populous Muslim state (although not an Islamic state as such). While the concerns about instability extend to the whole of Australia's neighbours, in the Indonesian case Australia has generally given a high priority to accommodating the wishes of Indonesian governments from Suharto onwards. East Timor in 1999 was an exception, largely because Indonesia had lost control of the situation, and Australia felt compelled to assume the role of regional policeman. As a middle power at most in international terms, Australia has done its utmost to ensure international legitimacy for the interventions it has undertaken in both East Timor and Solomon Islands. In both cases the immediate impact was positive, leading to the restoration of law and order, the establishment of an independent East Timor after a period of United Nations tutelage, and the resumption of militia-free politics in Solomon Islands. Nevertheless the viability and the development prospects for both countries will be a continuing issue for Australia.How Australia approaches issues in its neighbourhood will continue to vary as between the southwest Pacific and eastern Indonesia, largely because of the role of Indonesia in the latter case. In the southwest Pacific, Australia is likely to continue its more assertive stance, with Papua New Guinea as a major concern. The development of the Pacific plan under the auspices of the Pacific Islands Forum is of particular importance for the Pacific island countries (including the southwest Pacific). In situations affecting eastern Indonesia, Australia is likely to continue its policy of deferring to Indonesia. The most obvious example is the situation in West Papua, where Australia is likely to continue its policy of avoiding giving offence to Indonesia. In East Timor, as the crisis that emerged in May 2006 revealed, Australia is likely to take the leading role in international efforts to maintain stability. Post-1999 circumstances have made East Timor different from eastern Indonesia in this respect; there are more international complexities, but Australia's role is more comparable to its position in the southwest Pacific than to the stance it has adopted in eastern Indonesia. …