Five years ago the Gillard Labor government was placing all its bets on Asia, declaring that Australia's economic future lay with the likes of China rather the US and Europe..

Even today, the Turnbull government's foreign policy maintains an Asia-Pacific focus, with the PM and foreign minister attending the Indian Ocean Rim Association leaders summit in Indonesia this week..

But one expert has declared the Asian century is over before its even begun: Michael Auslin, the author of The End of the Asian Century: War, Stagnation, and the Risks to the World's Most Dynamic Region.