Analysis of Australias Economic Engagement with Asia

Analysis of Australias Economic Engagement with AsiaThe paper of government activityal and sparing arguments for Australias engagement with Asia has been discussed keenly in media everyplace extensive period of time. However, no matter who you ask, or what article you read, it is a f exemplify that Australias relations with South vitamin E Asia and Asia in everyday went through a monumental change over past 20 twelvemonths. This relationship started with a complicated and cautious view of Asia as a risk. Risk in both direct aggression and military sense, as well as a hazard to Australias sort of life. afterwards on, the relationship evolved to viewing Australia as an integral crack up of Asiatic society, as a clownish that should vex itself as a squ ar, reliable and full of life furnish in region that is able to benefit from growth in the bea and, in figure, benefit the region itself. at that place are many political and stinting arguments for Australias engagemen t with Asia, Australia sparing is connected to economies of opposite countries in the world and prosperity of Australia nation dep contains on where Australia impart function itself in future. Politics in this age a soaringly captivated by scotch factors and are usually mended and driven by sparings, hence I will start with the later.As Asias providence continues to expand cursorily and Asia is poised to lead the powerhouse of the next century as suggested by Dr Emerson (2012), Australia will tho find itself more(prenominal) interconnected with these economies, building its protest riches as they grow. Already, DFAT (2013) indicates Australia top 4 export partners are in Asia with China, japan, South Korea and India accounting for 63% of Australias exports in FY2013. The proximity of Australia to Asia and specifics of resources we stick out will see the economy further integrate with that of the region. As influence of Asia grows so the political motivations to ass ociate Australia as integral part of Asia, too soon examples include Prime Minister Howards policy to position Australia as a key player in the region.The absolute take aim to position Australia as a key, central and crucial regional player oblige the regime to work on policies that emphasise regionalism at times, or nurture bilateral agreements with new(prenominal)s according to Capling (2008). Moreover rising dependence of Australian prosperity on growth and trade with Asian economies further stressed the need in forward looking strategy, which culminated in numerous governmental studies, with subject of the Australia in the Asian century white paper. The enormous growth in Asian economies has already provided Australia with extraordinary benefits, most nonably in minelaying and energy sectors, and part growth in China seems to be backwardness there is no reason wherefore other economies, India for example, are not able to fill any void left by Australias chief(prenom inal) trade partner. on that point is absolutely no reason why Australia cannot continue m 1tising on the growth its neighbours are experiencing. And this incredible growth is only standed to continue, with multiple sources and studies, including The Standard (2012), indicating that by 2030 Asia will become the economic centre of the world. It is expected that closer to 2030 Asias GDP will clear GDP of the United States and Europe combined. As a result of that bourgeoisie consumers population in Asia is expected to be the largest in the world.Even as some economies in Asia start to moderate in growth, as their set class grows so will the demand of this wealthier population for higher end goods and services. A diverse range of products can be exported, start from procreation to health, organic pabulum to wine. jibe to the Commonwealth (2012) the global centre for economic and wealth gravity will only continue dismissioning to the region.The signs are already apparent, Austra lian educational sector has been a net exporter to Asia, move this country into Asias classroom according to Griggs (1993). Full Fee stipendiary bookmans are contributing over A$1.1 billion a year into Australian educational sector. As the wealth of these economies grows, we can only expect growth in demand for high quality, unbiased western education. This is reinforcing coveted position of Australia being a certain bridge between the East and West, positioned in the East with a robust Western system of education, culture, economy and customs. In addition to tertiary education numerous student produce to Australia to study English or attain vocational and school qualifications. Australia has been favored so far in its approach to inter guinea pigise education (Beazley 1992). Students from abroad are comme il faut not only an important source of intimacy and cultural exchange, they are also important in funding Australias university system. The growe importance of internation al students, and their dollars, has resulted in a significant shift in Australian politics. As Asian wealth grows international contender for students grows as well, these resulted in need to watercourseline and relax requirements for entry into the country. There is a noticeable change in requirements to obtain international student visa to travel and study in Australia, a large proceeds of requirements have been streamlined, the procedures simplified and processing times improved significantly.Politics, including such huffy issues as entry requirements into Australia, once again have been significantly influenced by economics, according to Treasurer Swan (2012) the Asian century is the time for Australia and Australian education to shine, however further changes needed to stay competitive in international market place. The government is in continuous discussions with educational institutions on how to become more competitive and how to attract more students to Australia. Austr alia utilises a human body of tools to be visible and attr sprightly in this regard, including road betokens and expos in Asia, significant investment in advertising overseas and direct involvement of government and relevant institutions in promoting Australia as the place to be to gain high quality, world class qualifications while still enjoying ludicrous, relaxed, western and prosperous country. A simple visit to most university campuses will be enough to show tremendous succeeder Australian educational sector is enjoying.There is other sector that is already benefiting from this interaction, and is expected to grow vastly if properly marketed. large population and wealthier pockets direction demand for more provender and better nutrition. According to Cooper (2012), Australias proximity, vast size and smaller population means that Australia is poised to become a case of a diet basket for Asia. From personal experience and news, we can see that the potential benefit for the food assiduity is apparent. Recent interest of international investors and conglomerates in Australian companies standardized Graincorp only proves the potential of wealth that can be generated by food industry here. And there is a clear push from Federal regime to boost the potential of this industry and simplify the process of investment and export. If the success of beef industry can be replicated in other sectors of food industry there is a clear potential of lucrative income stream for both the government and investors.A government agency from economy, moving to a purely political view, there is an argument that issue of national security is paramount, independent of economy and always comes first. My argument however is that as economical dependency grows the national security issues are softened to take for these new economical realities, if not adjusted entirely. It is no secret that Australia is a major(ip) beneficiary of Chinese growth. According to The Economist Intelligence Unit (2009) while suppuration in its dependency on China, Australia still looks to America as Asias sheriff. For a while, Australian government had the urgent sense of a growing business as China is reshaping Australias trade and investment structure, drawing the country into a China-centred Asian orbit. This didnt sit well with a strong historical security connection between Australia and America. The absolute need to vacate any conflict, in order to balance the relationship between devil major partners, is one of the reasons of Australias push to build regional organisations that will include both powers. One of the possible outcomes of availability of such organisations want Asia-Pacific community is that they will act as some sort of judicature or forum where conflicts and issues can be resolved peacefully and without major impact on economy, security and national interests. My argument here that while historically Australia had extraordinary ties with Americ a, and will continue this relationship in predictable future, economic reality dictates the need to find a middle install and move away from blindly following policies of the US (Capling 2008) to balancing its act as Asia in general, and China in particular, are not seen as an enemy, but as a vital and important partner. Over exist decade, Australian Government has been implementing policies showing that Australias interest, wealth building and abundant term survival will be better served by development and implementing a more independent and balanced policy from that of Washington.To further riotous on this point, we have seen numerously how foes of yesterday became friends as economical relationships between countries subjoin in complexity, interdependence is established and plebeian economic benefit becomes the master(prenominal) driver of politics. Examples abound, Germany and France as one, closer to home Australia and japan are a great example. Not that long ago Aust ralia and Japan were adversaries and the relationship was that of an resident physician and the occupied. According to Sato (2008) Australia put forward a request for a harsher interposition to occupied Japan, demanded stricter and tougher assurances. These demands were so harsh that United States was not willing to accommodate them. While these demands were understandable due to the deep scar Australia birthd owing to Japanese actions in World War II, the situation started to change slowly. sparing ties grew, Japanese economy underwent a miracle growth and countries became closer. Australian relationship with Japan extended to the degree that they have become undeniably some of the strongest partners in Asia-Pacific region. Japan was a strong supporter of Bob Hawkes intention in establishing the APEC initiative, as mentioned by Terada (2000), and arguably, the reason why this organisation managed to bring home the bacon the initial resistance it received from other Asian nati ons. In addition, Japan put tremendous pressure to facilitate acceptance of Australia into East Asian Forums, see Marris (2005). Due to these changes very few people on any side could perceive the other party as a holy terror to national security, stability or way of life. The mindset has changed completely aid by recent history, political and economical dynamics between the two nations.There is no reason why Australia cannot foster similar relationships with other countries in Asia that will result, akin to Japan, in obtaining an ally, a trading partner and major supporter on international arena. Moreover, the situation is much more favourable with most of the nations in the region. Unlike Japan, with exception of Indonesia, there were no obvious or direct security confrontations with any of the nations. This provides a more favourable ground on building more robust relationships that are based on mutual trust and benefit.China is repeating the economic miracle of Japan, already becoming, in certain sense a prosperous, much larger, better and more vibrant economy. Japan has been pushed to sidelines in everything but political relations, starting with the significance of trade with Australia, to the number of international students and tourist visiting this country. There is a significant progress today compared to where we were even a decade ego, previously it was debatable if Australia will ever be considered as part of Asia, today that is not the question. However, there is still a long way to go to build mutual trust, foster common understanding and lay down strong, allied links.Often quaintness of Australia hampered relations with Asia, however being several(predicate) is not always bad. Australia is still and will remain very different to other Asian countries. Dissimilar attracts, and by leveraging this uniqueness Australia travel, touristry and hospitality industry flourished. We have seen increase in Japanese touristry that benefited Queensla nd economy enormously, and this is slowly starting to replicate with other Asian countries. Australia boasts unique natural landmarks, beautiful scenery and a very different surround to Asian countries. Australia is workings hard to promote and capitalise on growing wealth of Asia. Large advertising and sponsorship campaigns are launched across Asia, with tourism Australia pickings a A$14 million campaign across 4 Asian markets that are most lucrative at this stage, being Hong Kong, China, Korea and Malaysia as pointed out by Sudhaman (2005). Offering a unique and compelling position, Australia is commensurate of benefiting significantly from Asian touristry. Even when taking competition of other, more traditional, touristry destination in Europe and US, Australia is able to gain an upper give-up the ghost by emphasizing its Asian location, proximity, uniqueness of natural assets and friendliness of population. In addition, Australia offers significant amount of services avail able in tourist native-born languages due to true multiculturalism and multilingualism of local population.Owing to massive growth of wealth and large population in Asia, Australian tourism industry could become the largest service export of the country. If WTTC (2013) assumptions are correct, by 2020 more or less half of the travellers almost the planet will originate from Asia. There is a potential for Australia to receive around $115 billion in overnight spend from tourism by 2020 if proper policies and marketing are done (Tourism Australia 2011).ConclusionArguably, economic benefit is the main driver behind all the politics and the main reason why governments enter into alliances or build common organisations. From psychoanalysis above Australia could benefit tremendously from repositioning itself as a strong, active and friendly Asian nation while retaining the specifics of its Western culture and way of life. Building closer relationships with Asia should prove positive on multiple vectors impacting almost every sector of national economy.Over past decades Australia has already been benefiting from the mutual relationship with Asia. Trade numbers increased dramatically with main Australian trade partners shifting from Europe and North America to Asia. Strong industry links have been built including financial, political and cultural. Tremendous number of industries benefited from this, with minelaying and energy historically benefiting from our proximity to Asia. And, it is expected, that they will only continue to do so in near future. Educational and Health sectors are becoming a major source of wealth locally by exporting the service overseas. Australian educational sector is already becoming one of top recipients of international student fees, and there is no reason why Australian health system cannot benefit from international clients akin to US, Canada, Switzerland and Germany. Additionally, the government along with the tourism sector are pro moting Australia as a unique destination with aspects of both Europe and Asia, this is where uniqueness of Australia and its dissimilarity from Asia can be capitalised the most.Politically, as stronger economic ties are forged and trust fostered among nations, Australia is posed to swerve any risk to its national security, be that from direct aggression or passive hostility. When governments see the benefit of being with other nation, when this benefit translates in more robust trade, wealthier electorate and stronger economy, governments tend to put differences aside and look for solutions in peaceful, civilised way. And these are just few of numerous positive reasons of Australia benefiting from stronger ties with its neighbours.BibliographyBeazley, The Hon Kim, M.P. (1992). internationalistic Education in Australia through the 1990s. capital of Australia. Australian Government Publishing Service.Capling A. 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