Penny Wong warns ‘aggressors may think war is worth the risk’ if Indo-Pacific allyship falters

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has pleaded with the United States to remain committed to the Indo-Pacific in a thinly veiled warning that China could be emboldened to carry out further coercion and interference in an “unbalanced” region.

Speaking at the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA) dinner in Canberra, Senator Wong has boasted of the Albanese government’s diplomatic achievements since coming to power in 2022.

In her Monday night speech Senator Wong claimed: “We have stabilised relations with China, without compromising on our interests” and declared “the United States is our closest ally, and our principal economic and strategic partner”.

“Our guiding purpose for the past three years and our focus for the years ahead is to help build the region we want. A region in balance, where sovereignty is respected,” Senator Wong told the gathering of foreign policy experts.

“All of these efforts are so we can defend and sustain our political institutions, critical infrastructure and social cohesion against measures short of war, while preventing conflict.”

Senator Wong then warned her audience that if Australia and its partners did not continue to work together the “world will be more deferential to authoritarians” and “aggressors may think conflict is worth the risk”.

“Without these efforts, the norms that middle powers rely on will be replaced by a new normal. Where coercion and interference override sovereignty, where discourse is overwhelmed by disinformation and cyberattacks. Where diplomacy and dialogue are supplanted by threats and intimidation.”

“Without our shared efforts, the cumulative toll on our region would be a weaker, less cohesive, and less sovereign group of nations, without the collective security and prosperity that we seek.”

The Labor frontbencher also warned that the deteriorating regional security environment was being “compounded by the impacts of climate change – including less food security and more instability and displacement”.

“It is a grim picture. But it is the picture of a future without our work to build something better,” Senator Wong said.

Her blunt comments come after Beijing for the first time conducted a “bomber formation patrol” with its fighter jets over the disputed South China Sea on Sunday as a “warning” to the Philippines for conducting joint patrols with the US and Japan.

Last week Japan also lodged a strong protest with Beijing over an apparent threat to behead Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in a social media post by the Chinese consul general in the city of Osaka.