7. CONCLUSION

Abstract

The notion that genuine and substantive Australian engagement with Asia began only with Whitlam’s 1972 recognition of communist China and came to full expression with the Hawke and Keating governments from 1983 into the 1990s is not borne out by the postwar historical record. Indeed, close attention to that record supports the proposition that decolonisation in Southeast Asia, and Cold War strategic imperatives across the region more broadly, drew Australia into deep and genuine political relationships with many Asian states, based on shared normative as well as security concerns.