In the halcyon days of the 1990s, with the Cold War finally over, many influential Australians convinced themselves that globalisation was forging an ‘Asia-Pacific community.’ A new ‘state of mind’ was emerging in the region, then-foreign minister Gareth Evans argued. In place of old enmities and ideological disputes, there was a recognition of ‘shared interests and aspirations’ and a collective ‘commitment to achieving them through cooperative machinery.’
It took more than a decade for disillusionment to set in, despite mounting evidence that this view was over-optimistic. The crisis in Timor-Leste in 1999 and Australia’s participation in the War on Terror strained relations with neighbouring states and revealed the limits to regional like-mindedness. The Bali bombings in 2002, in which 88 Australians died, provided a brutal reminder of the enduring appeal of violent extremism in parts of Southeast Asia. A series of inadequate responses to crises – whether they arose from a coup in Fiji or a nuclear test in North Korea – exposed weaknesses in regional institutions.