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The Prime Minister has renewed the government’s commitment to ASEAN during his diplomatic visit to Indonesia.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo for the Annual Leaders’ Meeting in Bogor.
In a joint communique, the pair reaffirmed their commitments to deepening cooperation under the five pillars of the bilateral Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) launched in 2018:
- economic and development partnership;
- connecting people;
- securing shared interests;
- maritime cooperation; and
- Indo‑Pacific stability and prosperity.
Notably, the pair stressed the importance of supporting ASEAN centrality amid growing instability in the region.
Specifically, Australia renewed its support for the ASEAN outlook on the Indo-Pacific, which in addition to strengthening ASEAN centrality, includes improving openness, transparency, inclusivity, a rules-based framework, good governance, respect for sovereignty, non-intervention, and complementarity with existing cooperation frameworks.
Following the meeting, Prime Minister Albanese said ASEAN centrality would help balance “competition between the big powers of China and the United States”.
“It’s one of the reasons why we speak about the centrality of ASEAN,” he said.
Prime Minister Albanese and President Widodo also committed to greater bilateral defence and security cooperation.
This would include supporting regional security and stability via the annual Australian and Indonesian Foreign and Defence Ministers Meeting (2+2) and plans to enhance defence engagement.
Amid China’s efforts to expand its presence in the South Pacific, the leaders reiterated their joint commitment to the Australia-Indonesia MOU on Trilateral Cooperation with the Pacific.
The agreement aims to provide a positive framework for collaboration to “best support the needs” of Pacific neighbours.
In a separate press conference, Prime Minister Albanese provided an update on the government’s response to the Chinese military’s recent confrontation with a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P-8 Poseidon.
The government had made “appropriate representations” to the Chinese government expressing concern over the incident.
But according to the Prime Minister, Beijing is yet to issue a response.
He went on to describe the incident as an “act of aggression” and a “dangerous act” against the RAAF, which he stressed was conducting aerial surveillance “in accordance with international norms and in accordance with practice that’s been long observed”.
[Related: CCP benches Pacific proposal amid push back]
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