MANILA, Philippines – Australia announced on Thursday a new funding aimed to continue its cooperation with countries in Southeast Asia in facing regional security challenges through practical collaboration and policy dialogue.
In her keynote address delivered at De La Salle University, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Penny Wong shared the importance of conflict prevention by implementing, among others, discussions on “an early warning system to prevent crisis descending into conflict.”
“And as ASEAN's oldest Dialogue Partner and, for five years now, a Comprehensive Strategic Partner, Australia remains committed, in principle and in practice, to ASEAN's centrality and to ASEAN-led mechanisms,” Wong said.
“And it is with that commitment in mind that I announce a new phase of ASEAN-Australia Political Security Partnership, of $11 million AUD (470 million pesos) over the next five years,” she added.
According to Wong, who is in Manila to attend a series of regional meetings hosted by the Philippines, said that this builds on the important shared work on conflict prevention, which was included in the Joint Statement on Conflict Prevention with ASEAN, at the ASEAN-led Regional Architecture agreed by leaders last year.
The Joint Leaders' Statement on Conflict Prevention and Crisis Management in the ASEAN-Led Regional Architecture is a landmark agreement between ASEAN and Australia.
It establishes a framework for practical cooperation, confidence-building measures, and preventive diplomacy to reduce the risk of conflict and miscalculation in the Indo-Pacific, according to the ASEAN official website.
The joint statement, signed during the 5th ASEAN-Australia Summit in Kuala Lumpur in 2025, focuses on upholding regional architecture by strengthening an ASEAN-centered, rules-based, transparent, and inclusive region that upholds international law; crisis management and prevention by expanding the scope of defense cooperation through the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADDM-Plus) and promoting preventive diplomacy to mitigate geo-strategic risks; and maritime security by reaffirming the importance of peaceful dispute resolution, freedom of navigation, and full respect for the 1982 UNCLOS in areas like the South China Sea, among others.
At present, the region faces complex security challenges brought about by maritime disputes, civil conflict and internal political instability, among others; as well as emerging security threats such as cybercrime and scam hubs, energy and economic vulnerability and transnational crimes.
In the same speech, Wong reiterated that ASEAN and Australia must work together to achieve a peaceful, open and prosperous region.
“We know that acting together gives countries like ours more weight, more influence, more ability to shape the decisions that affect us,” she stated.
“Together we must build the region we want – not just accept the region that others might want for themselves,” she said.
To do that, ASEAN and Australia should invest in shared security and resilience “before crises, during crises and after crises,” Wong said.
