JAKARTA, March 12 (Reuters) – Indonesia and Australia are planning to expand their security cooperation to include Japan and Papua New Guinea, Jakarta’s Defence Minister said on Thursday after a meeting with his Australian counterpart.
* Trilateral security arrangements would be developed withIndonesia, Australia and Japan, and between Indonesia, Australiaand Papua New Guinea, Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin told reporters aftertalks with Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles. * The leaders of Indonesia and Australia signed a securitytreaty last month that commits them to consult each other ifeither country is threatened. * Indonesia and Australia will work together on intelligencesharing, Sjafrie said, without providing details. * The two ministers discussed the possibility of developinga defence training facility on the island of Morotai on NorthMaluku, with a proposal to upgrade its existing defenceinfrastructure, he said, adding “We will work together toimprove and utilise it.” * Sjafrie also said military personnel from countries suchas the Philippines, Australia and Singapore would have access tothe facility, as well as another in North Kalimantan beingdeveloped with Singapore. * Indonesia was ready to deploy troops for the internationalsecurity force in Gaza, but that was dependent on the currentdynamic with U.S. President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace andthe conflict in the Middle East, Safie also said. * Indonesia had been prepared to send 20,000 troops but wasnow ready to deploy 8,000, in phases, he said, with the move toscale back coming in response to pledges by other countriesinvolved in the initiative to send numbers in the hundreds. * “The president has instructed us to prepare our troops,and we are ready to act, but we are awaiting developments fromthe BOP. I cannot confirm anything yet because the situation isvery dynamic,” he added.
(Reporting by Ananda Teresia; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by David Stanway)
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