Strategic reset: Asean and Australia


New bond: Some of the Asean leaders (from left) Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin at the Asean-Australia Special Summit in Melbourne last week. — Reuters

“THE long-standing friendship between our two great nations transcends the 78 years of our formal diplomatic relations,” declared Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in his spirited address before the Australian Parliament last week.

“These bonds trace their roots as far back as the 1860s when Filipino pearl divers, known to you then as the Manilamen, found their way to your shores as early purveyors of globalisation,” he continued, tracing the depth of bilateral relations to the dawn of modernity in the Asia-Pacific region.

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