Australia's new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has adopted fresh diplomatic approaches and vowed to reposition the country's role in the world community.
This was despite the fact that the new government's broad foreign policy lines, including strong relationship with the United States, engagement with Asia and a stable neighborhood, remained unchanged from those of the former Prime Minister John Howard.
The difference would be in the ways to carry out the lines, analysts said.
CLOSE BUT MORE INDEPENDENT ALLY
Since his assumption of office, Rudd distanced himself from the United States on two issues, namely pulling combat troops out of Iraq by mid-2008 and signing of the Kyoto Protocol.
This was unlike John Howard's U.S. policy which has been criticized for following Washington too closely and being in short of Australia's own views.
Yet, such changes just represented a nuance in style and should not be over-stated as the Australia-U.S. alliance still remains the pillar of Canberra's foreign policy, analysts pointed out.
"I am a lifelong, robust supporter of the alliance and always will be. But every now and again there will be a disagreement (with the United States) and I will have no reservations, when it is necessary, in expressing that disagreement," Rudd once said.
Allan Gyngell, executive director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy, said "we (Australia and the United States) will still be close, but expect to see a more independent Canberra."
The new approach will allow Canberra larger room to maneuver in its pursuit of a new role on world stage and middle-power diplomacy in certain areas like climate change, strategists said.
ENGAGEMENT WITH ASIA
Rudd, a former diplomat and Asia expert who can speak Chinese, said his government is more capable than Howard's in forging closer ties with a rising East Asia.
He appointed the country's first Asian-born minister, Penny Wong, with responsibility for climate change and the name was carried by major media outlets across Asia.
Rudd identified China and India as determinants of Australia's future, saying the relations with the two rising Asian economies need to be further enhanced.
To help Australia better understand Asia, Rudd's government has announced a 68 million dollars (about 60 million U.S. dollars) program for Asian languages and Asian studies.
Local media reports described Rudd's Asia policy as amicable, compared with Howard's era when Australia self-labeled as Washington's "deputy sheriff" in the region and unilaterally claimed the right to launch pre-emptive strikes in neighbors.
BE SOFT WITH PACIFIC
Rudd has accused the Howard government of relying on sending troops or warships to restore order in the South Pacific while ignoring the reasons causing social problems in neighbors.
As a result, Labor said, the region was far from being stable and Australia has seen strained relations with a few countries.
The new government is expected to repair relations with countries like Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands and seek a new diplomatic approach in the region, analysts said.
The new Parliamentary Secretary for the Pacific Duncan Kerr has said Australia will change a perception that it is the "Big Brother" of the island states.
"We are not big brother. We can't demand outcomes that are always in accordance with Australia's view of the world," he said.
Instead, the new government has promised an increased aid to the region to help solve the "core problem" of building infrastructure of education, health care, transport and communications.
Rudd also planned to build a regional civil-military cooperation center as a platform to coordinate management on issues of security, infrastructure and crisis.
Source: Xinhua
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