The Sea Power Centre Australia and Macquarie University have collaborated in a research project on the way Australia conducts its naval diplomacy and joint exercises, noting that after a three-decade lull, great power competition has returned to the region.
It notes: “This burgeoning strategic era will, however, be very different from what Australia has experienced in the past. First, rather than being on the periphery of the Cold War’s strategic competition in Northeast Asia, Australia is now central to the Indo-Pacific region and the new tussle for influence. Second, many of Australia’s neighbours in Southeast Asia are wealthier and more militarily capable than they were during the Cold War.