A strong rules-based order bound by bilateral ties is key to dealing with challenges from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and North Korea, says Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
Wong warned that the Indo-Pacific faced a critical test from powers wishing to create a “closed, hierarchical region where the rules are dictated by a single major power to suit its own interests.”
She said it was critical for Australia to understand that this competition was more than just a drive for military primacy over other countries.
“It is more than great power rivalry and is, in fact, nothing less than a contest over the way our region and our world work,” she told the National Press Club on April 17….