ABSTRACT
This chapter will explain why Australia has been an early supporter of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific (FOIP) as a strategy to defend the US-led liberal international order. This strategy is consistent with and mutually reinforcing the two dominant strands of Australian foreign policy—the dependent ally and middle power traditions. Australia’s FOIP strategy has involved four main facets: firstly, expanding Australia’s sovereign military capabilities to deter attacks on Australian soil and project power into the Indo-Pacific region; secondly, doubling down on its alliance with the United States to assist the US to continue to project power into the region and prolong its primacy; thirdly, deepening its bilateral relationships with Japan and India as significant regional democracies and finally, supporting the Quad as the most consequential quasi-institution capable of countering China’s comprehensive challenge to the foundations of the US-led liberal order. It will be argued that Australia views the region as still under active contestation and that Canberra is actively building coalitions among like-minded states and using middle power diplomacy to maintain a balance of power in the region conducive to its interests and liberal values.
