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The Howard Doctrine

The Howard Doctrine. The Howard Doctrine. The Howard Doctrine refers to a new statement of Australia’s regional relationships in connection with the US alliance, which accompanied Australia’s military commitment to East Timor in 1999.

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The Howard Doctrine

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  1. The Howard Doctrine

  2. The Howard Doctrine • The Howard Doctrine refers to a new statement of Australia’s regional relationships in connection with the US alliance, which accompanied Australia’s military commitment to East Timor in 1999. • It was not an official statement of policy, but it has come to be regarded as semi-official • In an article published in The Bulletin Magazine in September 1999 entitled ‘The Howard Defence Doctrine’, John Howard was quoted as saying that Australia could be seen as ‘a medium-sized, economically strong regional power leading a peacekeeping force’, the ‘deputy sheriff’ to the United States’.

  3. The Howard Doctrine • According to the article, Howard – referring to Australia’s role leading UN peace-keeping forces in East Timor, said: • ‘Gee, we were ourselves in Asia over the past few weeks … we were defending the values we hold as Australians. We were willing to be in dispute with our nearest neighbour to defend those values … as a European Western civilisation with strong links with North America’.

  4. Howard Doctrine (cont’d) • “…East Timor shows Australia as a medium sized, economically strong, regional power leading a peacekeeping force with other regional nations, and the US acting as 'leader of last resort'. • Australia, says Howard, has a responsibility within its region to do things 'above and beyond', bringing into play its unique characteristics as a western country in Asia but with strong links to North America. East Timor peacekeeping shows Australia playing an 'influential, constructive and decisive role in the affairs of the region'."

  5. Change in Australia’s foreign policy focus Howard promoted: a greater emphasis on bilateral relationships, a ‘selective approach to the multilateral agenda’, and a cautious approach to the effectiveness of multilateral organisations such as the United Nations. With its emphasis on bilateral relationships—in particular the US Alliance—doubt about the general effectiveness of the United Nations it signaled a move away from the foreign political activism of the Hawke and Keating Governments

  6. Domestic reaction Describing the so-called ‘Howard Doctrine’ as a ‘truly fantastic proposition’ at the time, The Australian newspaper’s foreign editor Greg Sheridan said it implied that ‘we are going to go around the region imposing our vision of democracy and human rights on South East Asia, apparently at the point of a gun’.

  7. Domestic reactdion • The Australian’s Paul Kelly wrote that: • There was a growing concern that the Prime Minister had ‘played too much to the domestic gallery, casting himself as a popular crusader, and too little to the national interest’ • See the international reaction

  8. International reaction Indonesia’s President Habibie postponed the departure of the newly appointed Indonesian Ambassador to Australia until relations between the two countries had improved, and Indoesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas described relations between the two countries as at an historic low. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad said ‘Australia is talking about becoming the deputy to the US in policing Asia. This is unmitigated arrogance.”

  9. Howard’s response to criticisms A lengthy press statement was issued by the Australian embassy in Jakarta denying that John Howard had used the words ‘deputy’ and ‘regional policeman’ and in Parliament the following week - on 27 September 1999 - Howard said: I make it clear that the government does not see Australia as playing the role of a deputy for the United States, or indeed any other country in the region and neither does the government see the United States itself playing a role as a regional policeman, although continued American involvement in the region is vital to our security. Howard made it very clear, however, that he did not resile from the main message of the article. As I made very clear in the Bulletin article, Australia makes absolutely no apology for the lead it did take in relation to the East Timor situation, but it was, and remains, a lead taken in cooperation with our friends and neighbours in the region

  10. West Papua - Values v National Interest? The Timor issue strained relations between Australia and Indonesia and made the Howard government anxious to avoid supporting any further movements for self-determination in Indonesia. In 2000, Howard tried to stop the Pacific Islands Forum from raising the question of human rights in West Papua, but was forced to accept a communique´urging all parties to protect and uphold human rights in that Indonesian province. Alexander Downer saying that it was not in Australia’s national interest to see the fragmentation of Indonesia because it would lead to a bloodbath.

  11. The Howard Doctrine?

  12. Webpage links http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-october-23-2003/moment-of-zen---floats http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/politics/2009/01/13/nat.bush.medal.of.freedom.cnn.html

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