The article examines the main aspects of Australia's new policy of rapprochement with its Asian neighbors. The publication in October 2012-May 2013 of three reports prepared and united by a single topic on the nature of contacts between the Union of Australia and Asian States indicates another attempt to integrate this country more closely into the Asian region. But the intention of the ruling circles of Australia to "become their own" for the states of this region is faced with a number of obstacles, not only economic, but also political.
Keywords: Australian Union, Australian Labor Party, Asia, USA, China, India, Indonesia, trade relations, illegal refugees, military integration.
The integration processes observed in most regions of the world in the second half of the XX - beginning of the XXI century could not but affect the Asia-Pacific region, including its southern part, where one of the leading positions is occupied by the Union of Australia (AU). It is not surprising that the regional vector has become dominant in the foreign policy of this country, and after the creation of the Organization for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)at the beginning of this century "the new regionalism has changed the geopolitical status of Australia, including it as a component in the emerging system of integration of the countries of the Asia-Pacific region" [Slanevskaya, 2001, p.4].
In the era of globalization, it is customary to speak with approval about all possible forms and types of integration, and the deepening and expansion of interstate cooperation, especially in the financial and economic sphere, even if it damages national sovereignty and is not accepted by society, is considered as a necessary condition for prosperity. For example, the final declaration of the last APEC summit in Bali (October 2013) was prepared in this vein: one of its most important sections was a long-term (until 2016) plan to improve the investment climate in the Asia-Pacific region and c ...
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