In 2023, former prime minister Paul Keating dismissed Labor’s foreign policy as “running around the Pacific Islands with a lei around your neck”.
“Foreign policy is what you do with the great powers: What you do with China, what you do with the US,” Keating told the National Press Club.
But for Canberra, engaging with the Pacific is dealing with the great powers.
This week was a stark reminder of how regional diplomacy fits into the power struggle that will define the coming decades.
