Author: Daryl Morini, University of Queensland

Within Australia, Prime Minister Rudd’s call for an Asia-Pacific Community (APC) has recently been muted by a number of setbacks. Indonesia and Singapore have reacted in a highly qualified way to the proposal, and, at times, have veered close to outright rejection. The initiative also seems imperilled by recent tensions between Beijing and Canberra over the Stern Hu trial. Finally, the APC has been placed in jeopardy by increasing US-China tensions concerning the Copenhagen climate negotiations, Chinese trade policies and the Obama administration’s continued arms sales to Taiwan. In this context, how urgent is the implementation of the APC?

There are three main challenges that risk delaying the fulfilment of the APC: regional sceptics, the counter-challenge of the East Asian Community, and the ambivalent role of China. Read more…