Login
iscover
A “lightning-fast” Australia-Indonesia defence cooperation agreement is reportedly being accelerated within months, according to comments from Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles this week.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
A treaty level agreement is reportedly being written up within months to allow respective defence forces to exercise together in both countries.
The announcement coincides with high-level defence and security discussions between Minister for Defence Marles and probable Indonesian president, Indonesian Minister of Defense Prabowo Subianto in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 23 February.
“We are looking at the deepest, most significant defence agreement between our two nations in our respective histories. First time this will have occurred at a treaty level,” Minister Marles said earlier this month at a doorstop interview in Jakarta.
“It is profoundly important in terms of what it provides around being the platform for our two defence forces to exercise together, for Indonesians to exercise in Australia and vice versa. It is a very a significant statement about the strategic direction of both Indonesia and Australia.
“These are agreements which normally take many, many years, and we are very hopeful of being in a position to sign this in the next few months. If we can achieve that, that is a lightning-fast agreement.
“The training, exercises, the opportunity for both our defence forces to do more in each other’s country. This is the platform for that very practical engagement.
“Australia and Indonesia in a security sense, clearly have a shared destiny. We are neighbours; our security is entirely tied up in the security of Indonesia. The defence of Australia is entirely tied up in the defence of Indonesia. We have a collective and shared mission.”
Minister Marles had previously reaffirmed that Australia recognises the territorial sovereignty of Indonesia and does not support any independence movements within the country.
Subianto, the current Indonesian Minister of Defense and favourite to win the recent Indonesian presidential race, has previously served as a military general in Indonesia and undertaken officer training at the Royal Military College - Duntroon.
“Our bilateral relations now are very good, and we hope to enhance and improve the level of cooperation,” said Indonesian Defense Minister Subianto, during a joint press conference in Jakarta on 24 February.
“We hope to finalise and sign the defence cooperation agreement between Indonesia and Australia within perhaps the next two or three months.
“I think that is the essence and we look forward to continue close cooperation with Australia.
“We are destined to be close neighbours and we are determined to be good neighbours and we have very good relationships.
“Historically, there are ups and downs, but we consider Australia a good friend who’s always in many critical instances have sided with Indonesia. And we are determined to maintain and enhance this relationship.
“We are determined to foster this good relationship in many fields: education, economic, cultural, military, so there will be many dimensions but I think education is one of the fields that we discussed quite a lot.
“One of our main focus is to provide education to our people. And we see Australia as a very good partner for this. I think there’s several Australian universities that are opening campuses in Indonesia. I think two or three have already made serious progress.
“We need the best of relationships with all our neighbours and that’s our focus now is to maintain the best of relationships with our neighbours, and thank God that we have already achieved that, all these friendships within all our direct neighbours and especially with Australia. We value that very much.”
Elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will welcome Republic of the Philippines President Ferdinand R Marcos Jr and First Lady Louise Araneta-Marcos to Canberra later this week on 28 and 29 February.
Both leaders are expected to discuss greater cooperation on defence and maritime security, governance, trade and investment.
“President Marcos is a great friend to Australia, and I look forward to welcoming him to Canberra for his first official visit,” PM Albanese said.
“We are ambitious for the future of the Australia-Philippines relationship, which is guided by our historic Strategic Partnership I signed with President Marcos in Manila last year.
“Our nations are deeply connected through our shared regional, trade and investment links, but most importantly through our people, including more than 400,000 people of Filipino heritage who call Australia home.”
