Balancing Australia's National Interests

Australia has three enduring national interests: security, prosperity and the maintenance of the international system. The objective of Australia's foreign policy is thus clear: it should help advance these national interests. But what happens when these three national interests come into conflict? Should one be favoured over the others or is it possible to balance them? One useful approach is to apply ‘a balance of interests’ framework as suggested by Australian National University (ANU) Professor Ramesh Thakur. This chapter will look at the national interests to be balanced in Australia's key relationships with China, Japan, India, Indonesia, South Korea and the US. In each case there are difficult questions involved, such as balancing Australia's security and economic relationships, balancing Australia's bilateral relationships with a commitment to the multilateral system and managing the trade-off between economic interests and Australian values. This chapter concludes that a nuanced approach is needed that recognises that national interests can come into conflict and need to be carefully balanced in each case.