 I am delighted to be here today to launch Professor Michael Wesley's book, Restless Continent, Wealth, Rivalry and Asia's New Geopolitics. As you can see, it's a very well-thumbed work already. It is a timely work, it is thoughtful and measured and it's a contribution to the public discourse on the geopolitics of the shift from west to east, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. And Michael, what you've created in this book is a very approachable, readily understandable guide for the major challenges of our time in our region. It poses questions on where we go from here in the period ahead. And that's no small task. In the space of less than 200 pages, you traverse five centuries of history and thousands of kilometres of highly diverse human cultural geography. This is a critically important story and one that is not as well understood as it should be. Michael, you sketch out the modern history that is critical to understanding the world we live in today and the profound challenges faced by all of us in the Indian Ocean, Asia Pacific region. Your story starts at the dawn of the European colonial age and you lightly and seamlessly bring the reader forward all the way to the second decade of the 21st century. Asia's extraordinary industrialisation and transformation is your central topic and it's the critical backdrop to so much of what will happen in the century ahead. What strikes me most is the paradox you describe of increasing wealth and economic interdependence on the one hand and a strategic claustrophobia, fear and rivalry on the other. To quote you, The growing wealth and assertiveness of Asia's states creates a power paradox. The more powerful countries become, the more vulnerable they feel. Fears of encirclement are driving an escalating arms race across the continent leading to a shift in the latent structure of force that underpins the continent's rules and institutions a shift that is playing out across two different geographic settings. I see the origins of what you describe in the words of Richard Nixon which is so superbly set out in the peace dividends chapter. This is during a 1969 visit to the American base in Guam and you've taken Nixon's quote where he says, As we look at Asia it poses over the long haul the greatest threat to the peace of the world and for that reason the United States should continue to play a significant role. It also poses the greatest hope for progress in the world. Progress in the world because of the ability of the people the resources physically that are available in this part of the world. And another point that has struck me as highlighted in your book is the fact that Indo-Pacific countries like China, Japan, India and Indonesia and all of the nations in between don't arrive at this moment in history at this vast growth of regional economic and strategic power without significant historical and cultural baggage. You talk about baggage still being unpacked from the colonial age and perhaps more significantly the ancient Indo-Pacific cultural frictions that still simmer under the surface of all the major Asian relationships and two lines are particularly light, page 110. Historical scripts heavily influence how contemporary events are interpreted and then later, Asia's complex ethnic and religious mosaics are the result of centuries of social sedimentation left behind by the tides of conflict, commerce and colonialization. And then another chapter, history, hierarchy and culture mixed with rapid economic development combined to make Asia's states restless souls. The never healing wounds of western subjugation plus the need to build cohesion among an attachment of diverse societies to their new states drive them to be culturally and politically assertive and often prickly about what they perceive to be others presumptions. For a nation like Australia, these are very important realizations in terms of how we engage the Indo-Pacific and how we position ourselves in it. Since becoming foreign minister I've sought to raise awareness of the Indo-Pacific strategic landscape in which Australia is forging its future. It is a foreign policy priority for us and we have focused so much of our foreign policy assets, resources and interests on the Indo-Pacific. A new Colombo plan, for example, will play a significant role in this and I'm delighted to note that by the end of next year 10,000 Australian undergraduates will have been funded to live, study and work in our region in 38 countries across the Indian Ocean, Asia-Pacific. Economic power has shifted dramatically to this region and despite the inevitable ups and downs in economic strength as we've seen in recent months, the momentum will continue this way in coming decades and your story helps explain why. It also sets out the strategic challenges we face as a result as newly powerful Indo-Pacific nations renegotiate their position in the region and their relationships with other states. It is inevitable that tensions and misunderstandings will arise. Historical geostrategic frictions are real. On a global scale, a time is characterised by a much greater number of international players than used to be the case as well as the rise of highly influential non-state actors and the fact that makes it harder to achieve consensus on issues of international concern. And as you demonstrate so clearly in your book not all of those players come at our common challenges from the same perspectives. Each of these players has their own set of perspectives of seeing the world. Indeed, often there are vastly different value systems at play. It's complex, challenging, fraught, but your book is not gloomy or pessimistic. Your conclusion is that notwithstanding these growing pressures we have caused to be hopeful that we can in the main stay the course of peace and prosperity. One of the chief reasons you identify for that is the great degree of economic interdependency that is the hallmark of our time. And I agree with the proposition that while economic interdependency doesn't obviate the prospect of war it does make it a more expensive proposition. That's partly why I've advocated for economic diplomacy just as traditional diplomacy has promoted peace and stability. Economic diplomacy promotes peace, stability and prosperity. And it's why we continue to look at innovative ways for taking forward our diplomatic objectives and for building flexible and responsive regional architecture. Building the ties of trade, investment, cross-border business relationships and pursuing economic growth has helped us build a sense of regionalism over the past few decades and it will help us weather the storms of strategic rivalry and competition. From Australia's perspective this is a vital part of the work of key institutions like the East Asia Summit. With the glue of ASEAN the Association of South East Asian Nations behind it the East Asia Summit is a critical forum that should allow us to discuss and resolve differences of opinion which that if left unresolved might lead the nations of our region, Australia. As foreign minister I've also focused on the Indian Ocean Rim Association the 20 member states whose shores are lapped by the vast Indian Ocean. IAORA stands as a valuable mechanism for helping nations of the Indian Ocean come to common understandings. Well in your current role as professor of international affairs and director of the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University you are exquisitely placed to make the observations contained here. In launching your book today I thank you for writing it because it makes a valuable contribution and an accessible, highly readable contribution to a very important discourse on peace and development in our region and ongoing prosperity and stability. It is a worthwhile contribution I urge you all to read it and I have great pleasure indeed personal delight at launching Restless Continent Wealth Rivalry and Asia's New Geopolitics by Michael Wesley. Thank you Michael. Minister, wow, thank you. Thank you for an incredibly generous launch and your incredibly generous remarks about my book. Can I also thank you for your support and encouragement of me over many years over the many years we've known each other and furthermore as you said the position that I hold at the Australian National University has been incredibly rewarding mainly for the fact that under your leadership the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade our foreign policy institutions have been open, your emphasis on innovation and ideas the weekly interaction that we have with officers from your department and the very generous support that we get from your department as well makes it an absolute joy to be working at the ANU on international affairs. Can I also thank, while I have the floor, Chris Feig, my publisher from Black Ink Books Chris must be the most patient publisher in the world. I think I missed about three or four deadlines, Chris but he stuck with me and I'm delighted he did so. Can I also thank my family today as well as my colleagues and friends my wonderful colleagues at the Australian National University many of whom would recognise some of the arguments in the book. So let me just say a few words about the book if I might. Why did I write the book? Why did I think it was a good idea to write a book about the future of Asia? Well one of the reasons was that I had suspected for some time in Australia that when people used the word Asia people talked about were really talking about China and the idea of this book is to suggest that Asia is about more than just China it's about much more than just China and it's about much more than just China versus the United States. It's really about, this book is really about what's happening on the world's central continent the biggest continent, 60% of the world's population and certainly going to be the biggest economic entity in continent size. As the minister says it is about what happens when really two stabilising conditions have been lifted. Firstly the economic underdevelopment of the continent of Asia and secondly when the overwhelming US military and economic power position in Asia starts to be eroded by rising powers. I think what it leads to is that many of the assumptions on which we base our understandings of international relations need to be challenged because this is a genuinely new era we're going into. It's an era in which we have to start to get rid of our assumptions that non-Western states with their own power and wealth will calculate act as Western states have done in the past. That with two abiding preoccupations wealth and mutual mistrust and rivalry Asia's states will settle into understandable patterns. As I argue in the book both war to lance the rivalries that we're seeing and political integration to build on economic integration are not really likely options. So the book talks about how rivalry in the midst of interdependence or rivalrous interdependence as I call it will play out is really the key to Asia's future and the world's. The other contention I make in the book is that Asia from the Pacific to the Mediterranean from the Arctic Ocean to the Indian Ocean can no longer be neatly divided up and dealt with in smaller packages. I think we need to be attentive to the consequential connections that are growing across Asia and drawing it together. Energy, infrastructure, development, religious fundamentalism, strategic partnerships to list just a few. I think this matters because to understand and respond effectively to what's happening in any one part will require understanding its linkages elsewhere in the continent. Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you enjoy the book. Minister, once again, thank you for your kind words.