China Legal Blog
Aggregated China Law Information
Australia to bolster defence ties with Indonesia
Aggregated Source: ChinaLegalBlog.com
MediaIntel.Asia

“We intend for the new agreement to bolster our strong defence co-operation by supporting increased dialogue, strengthening interoperability, and enhancing practical arrangements,” the pair said in a statement on Friday afternoon.
“Negotiations will include consideration of issues such as reciprocal access to training ranges and streamlined entry and exit processes for joint activities.”
Mr Marles said Australia and Indonesia made an important shared contribution to regional security, including through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations [ASEAN].
Australia and Indonesia said they would work together to “navigate a more contested region, ensuring responsible management of strategic competition” through ASEAN.
“Elevating our existing arrangement sends an important message of our shared commitment to a region that embraces ASEAN centrality and the objectives and principles of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, where sovereignty is respected.”
After joint talks with Senator Wong and Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi at Parliament House, the two countries have also agreed to work together on military medicine supply, military technology, defence industry and wider defence co-operation.
Advertisement
The group reiterated its condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, denouncing the prolonged war and its “immense human suffering”.
They said the conflict, which is approaching its first anniversary, had badly exacerbated “existing fragilities in the global economy”, and was constraining global economic growth, increasing inflation, disrupting supply chains and heightening energy and food insecurity.
The statement also promised renewed co-operation on the challenge of combatting global disinformation and misinformation. The ministers agreed on the importance of democratic resilience and strong democratic institutions in the modern era.
Mr Marles and Senator Wong praised Indonesia’s leadership of the G20 bloc last year, saying Jakarta had led a strong agenda of global recovery from the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Federal Labor is working to shore up and renew relationships around the Indo-Pacific, including pushing back on a more assertive China and tackling threats associated with climate change.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Papua New Guinea last month, pledging to sign a new security pact with the country’s government by the middle of the year.
Last month, Indonesia deployed a warship to its North Natuna Sea to monitor a Chinese coast guard vessel active in a resource-rich maritime area that both countries claim as their own.

This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform.

Original URL: Click here to visit original article