Australian perspective: updating tradition

The complexities of the current international security environment have called into question many longstanding assumptions about threats, national interests and relationships. Traditional challenges, such as friction between Russia and the West and conflict in the Middle East, have been joined by new ones, such as the rise of China and challenges to cybersecurity, and the re-emergence of older threats, including terrorism and North Korea, in reinvigorated form. Against this backdrop, Australia and France appear to be rediscovering each other, like old friends in a crowded and sometimes hostile environment. The bilateral relationship isn’t the most high-profile for either country, but it persists due to our common values of democracy and the rule of law and our contribution to a global order based on those tenets, as well as some shared history.