Foreign Minister Marise Payne is heading to Southeast Asia to soothe tensions over Australia's decision to acquire nuclear-propelled submarine technology.
She heads to Malaysia on Friday for a six-day visit also encompassing meetings with her counterparts across Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Indonesia and Malaysia are concerned Australia could breach non-proliferation obligations in its decision to look at the feasibility of acquiring nuclear-powered submarine technology from the United States and United Kingdom.
The Morrison government is still trying to put to bed the international fallout from its decision to scrap a $90 billion French submarine contract in favour of the AUKUS agreement.
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham insists Australia needs to act in its own interests, even if that upsets France.
"It would have been frankly negligent for Australia, with the changed advice we had about the capability requirements of our defence forces, to just move on ahead without pursuing the alternative option of nuclear power," he told ABC radio on Friday.
Senator Payne stressed the AUKUS agreement was about more than submarines and would help underpin security in the Indo-Pacific region.
"Everything we will do in that partnership, we do acutely cognisant of the challenges that we face in the Indo-Pacific," she told Sky News.
"(There's) an unprecedented rate of military acquisition and military modernisation.
"All of (our) relationships are core to what we do in our region and importantly, what we are able to contribute to our region."
Senator Payne will also use her trip to to shore up vaccine diplomacy after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen questioned Australia's commitment to deliver a promised two million Pfizer doses.
Cambodia indicated it would look to buy three million doses of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine to ensure adequate stocks should Australia not deliver.
