There is clear recognition in Australia that the regional security environment in the Indo-Pacific has become more perilous. Comfortable assumptions that Australia could prosper from unfettered economic interaction with China, whilst sheltering under US military primacy, have dissolved as a result of America’s relative decline in the face of a rising and more assertive China. These changed strategic dynamics have spurred Canberra into action to preserve regional stability and the prevailing rules-based order. This policy brief captures the Australian strategic outlook on the region and indicates how it has sought to respond to strategic shifts and security risks, both on its own account, through building its own capabilities, and through forging new minilateral configurations of like-minded powers across and beyond the region. It concludes by positing ways in which Europe can productively engage with Australia through such minilaterals.
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