On 8th April 2016, in the Libraria room at the Collegium Maius, Professor Mark Beeson from the University of Western Australia gave a lecture entitled "Australia's Foreign Policy Dilemma: China, the US, or Both?". The lecture was devoted to Australia's foreign policy in the context of the US and China's rivalry in the region of East Asia and the Pacific

On 8th April 2016, in the Libraria room at the Collegium Maius, Professor Mark Beeson from the University of Western Australia gave a lecture entitled "Australia's Foreign Policy Dilemma: China, the US, or Both?". The lecture was devoted to Australia's foreign policy in the context of the US and China's rivalry in the region of East Asia and the Pacific.

The lecture was part of a seminar opened by Professor Andrzej Mania, Chairman of the Kraków branch and Deputy Chairman of the Polish Society of International Studies. The next speaker was Doctor Marcin Grabowski from the Department of History of Diplomacy and International Relations in the Institute of Political Science and International Relations at the Jagiellonian University, who introduced the guest speaker from Australia and managed the discussion following the lecture.

Professor Beeson started his lecture presenting Australia's current geopolitical situation. On the one hand, Australia is a political and military ally of the USA. On the other hand, it is facing the growing power and influence of a geographically closer player, i.e. China.

For a long time now, the basis of Australia's military safety has been the ANZUS Treaty binding it with the USA and New Zealand. As far as economy is concerned, the country has a growing bond with East Asian partners, predominantly with China. Professor Beeson gave a detailed description of his country's economic relationship with the Middle Kingdom. In the last few years, the most important part of this relation have become China's investments in exploring Australia's energy sources.

Professor Beeson devoted some time to discuss the reorientation of American foreign policy strategy which has been taking place in the last few years and which pays increasing attention to East Asia. Australia, being an American ally, is planning to increase its military potential, e.g. through the purchase of new systems of offensive weapons including submarines and bombers. According to Professor Beeson, if the future was to bring an open military conflict between superpowers, his country would not play a significant military role in it. And therefore it would be better if Australia assumed a similar position in the region to the one Switzerland has in Europe, that of a neutral state concentrating its military efforts on defence and one that is simply difficult and unprofitable to attack partly for geographical reasons.

Professor Beeson also presented possible future scenarios for the region of East Asia and the Pacific. In one of the likely ones, he predicts another balancing of superpowers similar to the Concert of Europe in the 19th century after the Congress of Vienna. The main roles would be played by the USA, China and, most likely, Japan and India (possibly other countries too). In Professor Beeson's opinion, such a situation would have a positive impact on the stability of the region. He wondered, however, to what extent such peaceful coexistence of two superpowers is possible if both the USA and China strongly believe in their very special role to play in history.

Closing his lecture, Professor Beeson concluded that building a military alliance could be a good solution for his country, but only with a great amount of freedom of thought and action, which might be beyond the reach of the current political elites in Australia.

After the lecture, the audience had the opportunity to ask questions. The subjects covered in the discussion included Australia's reaction to the Chinese expansion in the region of the South China Sea, the attitude of the Australian people towards the US and China, Professor Beeson's opinion on Australia's foreign policy and the possibility of developing in the region of East Asia and the Pacific an alliance similar to the EU, which Professor deemed rather unlikely. Numerous questions from the audience proved that the academics and students from the Institute of Political Studies and International Relations found the subject of the lecture very interesting.