Faraway so Close!: The Effect of Asian Values on Australia's Interactions with East Asia

Asian values discourse has focused on the Confucian cultural peculiarities of East Asia as the motorforce behind the East Asian "miracle", which is characterised as significant economic boom, increased welfare, and more fair distribution of income in East/Southeast Asia. These peculiarities have both pragmatic and psychological/intellectual dimensions, which, seemingly, operate independently but actually complement each other. Psychologically, Asian values claim an East Asian intellectual and cultural exclusiveness from the "West" but, pragmatically, they actually encourage commercial relations with non-Asians. Australia's contemporary relations with East Asia are a clear example of this. A trade-oriented and pragmatic engagement with the region has relegated politico-strategic relations to the background. This research argues that to move beyond trade and increase the influence of a non-Asian power, such as Australia in East Asia, the psychological dimension cannot be ignored.