Australia's first foreign-born foreign minister, Penny Wong, is in Malaysia, the country of her birth, to discuss Myanmar's security and instability. increase.
On Thursday, she returned to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, where she was born in 1968. She left with her Australian mother at the age of eight.
Won has an image of Australia as an increasingly diversified country rooted in Asia.
Once a British colony, Australia has in the past been considered primarily an Anglo outpost.
However, according to recent census data, more than half of the population was born abroad or has immigrant parents.
Tim Harcourt, Chief Economist at the University of Technology Sydney, said he believes that neighboring countries in Australia's region appreciate its cultural diversity.
"I think Asian countries really understand Australia's multicultural nature," he said. "It's well understood and there's someone like Penny Wong himself born in Malaysia. Her father was Malaysian and her mother was from Adelaide. So she's her own mix. , When you have all nationalities in the sun, I think it's a mix you'll be together between Anglo-Celtic heritage, indigenous heritage, and modern Malaysia. I think it's not one community, but one together. "
Wong also discussed with Malaysian officials about regional security and defense cooperation.
They repeated their concerns. About Australia's plans for a nuclear submarine fleet under the AUKUS alliance with the United States and the United Kingdom.
Malaysia and Indonesia have expressed concern that Australia's proposed submarine capabilities could ignite regional armed competition.
Wong was in Vietnam for a meeting earlier this week. This is her second visit to Southeast Asia since the Labor Party won the election in Australia on May 21st. She also traveled three times to the Pacific Ocean to counter China's security and trade ambitions in areas where she considers Canberra to be a traditional area of influence.
