Donald Trump is “the most ill-informed, under-prepared, ethically challenged and psychologically ill-equipped president in US history”, the former Australian foreign affairs minister Gareth Evans has said....
Evans joins the former prime minister Paul Keating in urging a more independent Australian foreign policy, both on its merits and as a reaction to the election of Trump.
He set out a vision for Australia’s foreign policy that he summarised as “less United States, more Asia and more self-reliance”.
The former foreign minister said Australia should not “walk away” from the alliance with the US because it benefited from access to intelligence, high-end armaments and, even if the Anzus security guarantee proved “flimsy” in reality, it notionally enjoyed “deterrent protection of America’s massive military firepower”.
“But less reflexive support for everything the US chooses to do is long overdue,” he said, citing Australia’s unconditional support for the US unilateral missile strike in Syria as an example.
Evans said re-evaluation of the alliance was “salient” after the election of Trump in November, describing the new president as “personally driven by instinct and impulse, unhampered by knowledge or judgment”.
“He has led an administration acting so far on the basis of postures rather than policies,” he said.
“While the commentariat is beginning to find some comforting early signs that the adults are regaining charge of foreign policy, anyone betting on this administration delivering consistent, coherent, constructive and decent outcomes over the next four years is making a very big gamble indeed.”
