Vietnam and Australia’s strategic partnership marks a new chapter in their 45-year relationship and could help bolster each country’s stand on the South China Sea dispute. The strategic partnership deal was signed during Vietnamese prime minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s visit to Australia ahead of the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit on 15 March.
Australia has taken steps to get in on the infrastructure boom taking place in Southeast Asia.
Indonesian President, Joko Widodo’s – also known as Jokowi – suggestion that it would be a “good idea” for Australia to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was certainly cause for some baffled reactions which soon sparked a flurry of speculations. Coming just before the ASEAN-Australia special summit, one cannot be faulted for being sceptical of his endorsement.
Relations between ASEAN and Australia are longstanding, yet substantive action to enforce mutual commitments may have been lacking till now. As the first of its kind, the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit is expected to do much to foster deeper trade relations between ASEAN and Australia, as well as advance joint counter-terrorism efforts within the region.
