COMMENT | Making the news in the mainstream Western media around the world but not in Australia which is hosting the Asean-Australia Special Summit 2024 was the forthright response by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim during his press conference to a question from Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) journalist Stephen Dziedzic.

The transcript of the conversation is reproduced here as it has not been followed up with any report from ABC despite its undoubted importance for Australian and Asian policymakers and the public.

Journalist: Prime Minister Anwar, last week in the Financial Times, you criticised what was apparently termed as ‘Sinophobia’ in the United States and perhaps the broader West in its dealings with the region. Can you expand on that, sir? What did you mean by that? How does that manifest?

And can I also ask, do you view Australia’s attempts to build up its own military capacity, including through Aukus, in the face of Beijing’s own massive military build-up - do you view that as a reasonable response? Or does Malaysia harbour concerns?

Anwar: You know these difficult questions to be addressed to the host...