Australia will play a more activist role in world affairs as it seeks to boost its middle-power influence, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said yesterday ahead of a major overseas trip.
In his first foreign policy speech since his center-left Labor Party won power last November, Rudd said Australia's economic and security interests relied upon the country being more engaged with allies, regional forums and the United Nations.
"The truth is Australia's voice has been too quiet for too long," Rudd said in a speech to an East Asia forum.
"That is why during the course of the next three years, the world will see an increasingly activist Australian international policy in areas where we believe we may be able to make a positive difference."
Rudd, a Mandarin-speaking former diplomat, leaves today for a 17-day world trip to the United States, London, Bucharest for a summit on Afghanistan, and four days in China. It will be his biggest foreign policy trip since taking office.
He said he would use the trip to discuss the global financial crisis and to push Australia's strong economy.
But Rudd has been criticized by conservative politicians in Australia for not also visiting Japan, which was Australia's biggest trading partner until China recently took over due to its booming demand for Australian mineral resources.
Rudd sought to allay Japanese concerns in an interview published on the front page of Japan's Asahi daily yesterday, where he was asked about his criticism of Japan's whaling and the fact that Tokyo was not on the itinerary of this trip.
"The relationship is strong, mature and healthy," the paper quoted him as saying in comments translated into Japanese.
Source: China Daily/Agencies
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