Middle Powers in the Asia Pacific: Korea in Australian Comparative Perspective

Claims to middle power status depend upon capacity and credibility. The term became particularly applicable from the 1980s when Australia helped launch APEC and the ASEAN Regional Forum, and worked to effect the Cambodia settlement. This rhetoric returned during the Rudd-Gillard governments, especially in relation to the role of the G20 in global financial governance, as well as to crafting inclusive Asian regionalism. The Republic of Korea began to use the middle power concept in the 1990s, and recently has emphasised its centrality to the “trustpolitik” objectives of the current administration. While both Korea and Australia have strong interests in rule governed outcomes in respect of major Asia Pacific issues, complex problems stand in the way of pursuing this middle power goal. With China as their major economic partners while simultaneously American alliance members, they are challenged to contribute to ordering the Sino-American terrain where settled rules are notoriously absent.