Australia and Indonesia Finalize 'Significant' New Defense Pact
After working on it since February 2023, Australia and Indonesia have completed their new defense pact, which is expected to include joint military exercises, deploying soldiers to each other's country, and cooperating in the disputed South China Sea....
0:00
/1861
Facts
- After working on it since February 2023, Australia and Indonesia have completed their new defense pact, which is expected to include joint military exercises, deploying soldiers to each other's country, and cooperating in the disputed South China Sea.[1]
- The agreement was announced in Australia's capital city Canberra by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, who is also Indonesia's president-elect.[2]
- Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles, who will sign the pact in Jakarta in the coming days, said it will further 'interoperability' and exercises between their respective militaries. However, Subianto emphasized that it was not a binding alliance.[3]
- Albanese also said the pact was 'underpinned by mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity as enshrined' in the 2006 Lombok treaty, in which Australia promised to refrain from supporting a separation of West Papua from Indonesia.[4]
- Prior to 2006, Jakarta and Canberra signed a historic security pact in 1995, but that was overhauled four years later due to Australia's peacekeeping operation in East Timor. In 2013, relations were almost threatened again after Australia wiretapped the phones of the then-Indonesian Pres. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.[5]
- President-elect Prabowo, a former special forces commander, reportedly has a more global emphasis than outgoing Pres. Joko Widodo, who has never attended the UN general assembly, and gives most interviews in the Indonesian language. Prabowo is expected to focus more on foreign affairs.[1]
Sources: [1]Al Jazeera, [2]Abc, [3]Associated Press, [4]Guardian and [5]South China Morning Post.
Narratives
- Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Lowy Institute. Australia and Indonesia have a mutual desire to support sovereignty in Southeast Asia, particularly against PRC aggression. However, this is not an alliance or preparation for war, but rather an agreement to boost each other's maritime defense capabilities. Canberra and Jakarta are showing that while Beijing is welcome to increase its economic footprint in the region, any military action in Australian or Indonesian waters will be met with equal force.
- Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Global Times. The West should not overestimate its influence in Southeast Asia. While Indonesia may sign treaties with countries like Australia, it's simultaneously cooperating with China on economic and defense issues. Jakarta has affirmed the one-China policy with Taiwan and is working toward building a security pact with Beijing in the South China Sea. As the US meddles in other Southeast Asian countries' affairs, Indonesia is aware of its need to broker its own peace with China.
