East Asia is a maritime theatre whose security will turn on the relations among the great powers-the United States, Japan and China.1 Apart from problems on the Korean peninsula, which continues in its historical role as the focus of great power tension, East Asia's challenge is to integrate China, its rising and irredendist power, into the regional order. How can Australia, an American ally south of the Equator, contribute to regional security?
Only a regional balance of power can constrain China if it continues to pursue zero-sum concepts of security, ignoring the fights and interests of others. 2 Maintenance of such a balance will entail the cross-bracing of the US bilateral alliance system in East Asia. Australia, Japan and South Korea are respectively an island continent, an archipelago and a peninsular (half-island). They all need maritime protection. For all these countries, maritime passage through the South China Sea and the Southeast Asian straits is an interest vital to national security. Freedom of the seas is also a vital national interest of the United States as the global dominant maritime power, and because of US commitments to the maritime security of its allies.
Like the United States, America's East Asian allies are democracies, and democracies always find it hard to think strategically in the absence of palpable threat. But alliances must be two-way streets if they are to endure when no clear and present danger exists. America's East Asian allies need to do more together to preserve their maritime security.
Far from being 'too far south', Australia is a strategic player in the Indian Ocean by virtue of its long coastlines fronting that ocean, and its far-flung offshore possessions. 3 Australia is also a strategic actor in the South China Sea and the Malacca straits because of its long-standing defense connections with ASEAN countries. These links afford Australia an influence in Southeast Asia that Japan lacks, even though Japan's economic capacity far exceeds Australia's.
Australia is the only country, apart from the United States, able to project power into Southeast Asia from a distance. Strike elements include the six new Collins class submarines and the F111 strike aircraft. Australia also possesses sophisticated military technology compatible with that of the United States, and is one of the few countries in the region capable of participating in the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA). Its intelligence connections with the United States, Britain, Canada and New Zealand date back to the Second World War, and are underpinned by common values and language. Australia makes a valuable contribution to the global intelligence vision which enhances the mobility and flexibility of American maritime power.
