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Australia's telling silence on US role in Asia
The absence of previous staunch support of American leadership reflects changed views on US-China confrontation
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ST ILLUSTRATION : MANNY FRANCISCO
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Sometimes what is left out of a major policy speech is as important as what is actually said. That was certainly true when Australian Defence Minister Christopher Pyne spoke about regional security in Singapore recently.
The theme of his keynote address was the challenge to the "rules-based order" in Asia posed by China's growing power and influence, and by the escalating US-China contest, which he described as the "defining great-power rivalry of our time".
