Australian New PM Wants Closer Ties With ‘Giant’ Indonesia

[Indos]

Australian PM’s Rival Wants Closer Ties With ‘Giant’ Indonesia​

• Labor leader said Indonesia would one day be a ‘superpower’
• His party’s lead over Australia PM’s coalition narrows

By
Ben Westcott
May 17, 2022, 10:43 PM PDT

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Australia’s Labor leader Anthony Albanese has picked Indonesia as one of his first diplomatic visits if he wins Saturday’s election and becomes prime minister, saying Canberra needs to build closer ties with the future “superpower

"Indonesia will grow to be an economy that’s substantial in the world, we live in a region whereby in the future we will have China, India and Indonesia as giants.

"We need to strengthen that economic partnership," he said at the National Press Club in Canberra.

Albanese did not lay out specific policies to bring the two countries closer together but said he wanted to expand "people-to-people" partnerships and build engagement with Jakarta including in areas like maritime safety.


The Labour leader questioned why relations between Australia and Indonesia were not closer, given the country’s proximity and the fact that Jakarta would one day "be a superpower in the world".

"We need to really strengthen the relationship," he said.

Indonesia is the one of the countries closest to Australia geographically, with security ties covering counter-terrorism and border protection. There have been strains in that relationship from alleged abuses by Indonesian special forces in East Timor in the late 1990s to revelations of Australian spies tapping then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s phone in 2013.

In recent months, Indonesia has expressed concerns over a new security pact between the US, UK and Australia that will help Canberra build nuclear-powered submarines while escalating tensions with China.

Albanese is currently in the final days of a six-week campaign against the centre-right government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Recent polling has shown a tightening election contest between the two leaders, with both competing for 76 seats to form government in Australia’s 151-seat Parliament.

He said if he won the vote on Saturday he would be heading to a meeting of the Quad in Japan on Monday, a diplomatic trial by fire where he’d hold talks with US President Joe Biden, Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Albanese said he would continue elements of Morrison’s diplomatic approach to Australia’s allies, while adding he believed trust needed to be rebuilt with some of the country’s partners.

When asked about reports in the Guardian that the Chinese government would seek a diplomatic reset with whichever leader won the election on May 21, Albanese just said the relationship between the two countries would be "challenging” going forward. - BLOOMBERG

Bloomberg - Are you a robot?

Australian PM’s rival wants closer ties with ‘giant’ Indonesia

CANBERRA: Australia’s Labour leader Anthony Albanese has picked Indonesia as one of his first diplomatic visits if he wins Saturday’s (May 21) election and becomes prime minister, saying Canberra needs to build closer ties with the future "superpower".

www.thestar.com.my

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/asean-business/australian-pms-rival-wants-closer-ties-with-giant-indonesia

 

[Indos]

 

[Indos]

Jokowi and Retno Marsudi, Indonesia foreign minister, met with Anthony Albanese before he win Australia election just weeks ago.

This meeting was on 15 February 2020 took place in Australia Parliament Building, Canberra.

 

[WotTen]

Title is confusing. He is now the Australian PM.

 

[Indos]

Title is confusing. He is now the Australian PM.

The news was published before the election, now I have edited the title to make it clearer

 

[Indos]

Australian Prime Minister's Labor Party Gets Parliament Majority​

1,191 views
May 30, 2022

 

[jhungary]

Title is confusing. He is now the Australian PM.

I don't trust Albo. Now that he have majority, he is going to drag us down and spend more money. Just hope that there aren't going to be another solar panel scheme that kick them out of Parliament the last time around.

 

[WotTen]

I don't trust Albo. Now that he have majority, he is going to drag us down and spend more money. Just hope that there aren't going to be another solar panel scheme that kick them out of Parliament the last time around.

LOL, TBH I don't pay attention to Australian politics because both parties are the same to me. I just vote Green for my conscience.

 

[Indos]

COMMENTARY |

27 MAY 2022​

THE USES AND THE LIMITS OF THE QUAD​

The Quad prevents China getting its own way all the time. But bilateral relations in the rest of the region are just as important in constraining Beijing. Originally published in the Australian Financial Review.

SUSANNAH PATTON​

Anthony Albanese did not get to choose his first international visit: the Quad chose him. Scott Morrison, Malcolm Turnbull, Tony Abbott, and Kevin Rudd all chose to visit Indonesia before any other country.

That had been Albanese’s plan too, until the timing of the Quad summit, informed by the US president’s schedule, made it impossible.

The importance of the first visit is mostly symbolic. Morrison’s legacy on Indonesia is mixed, despite his early visit.

Yet the balance between working in the Quad and working directly with countries in South-East Asia and the Pacific could define the Albanese-Wong foreign policy.

A bipartisan approach to China means the point of departure for Albanese is the same as it was for Morrison: how to constrain China’s growing regional influence and preserve a balance of power in Asia that is favourable to Australia.

The answer Morrison gave was mostly about doubling down on the alliance with the United States, including through AUKUS and the Quad.

It is wrong to argue that the Morrison government “neglected” its relationships with regional countries. But none of these relationships attracted the same level of prime ministerial energy or enthusiasm as the Quad, described by Morrison as the most significant development for Australia’s security since the signing of the ANZUS treaty in 1951.

An expanded security role for the Quad would be an important way of continuing to surprise China.

Albanese’s reaffirmation of Australia’s commitment to the Quad in Tokyo struck the right note. The Quad’s most important success is the simple fact of its existence: it helps keep its members on the same page when it comes to challenges in the Indo-Pacific.

For Australia, this means keeping the US as engaged as possible, supporting Japan’s increasingly proactive foreign and security policies, and encouraging greater Indian alignment with US and allied approaches to the Indo-Pacific.

Related to this, the Quad’s mere existence tells China that it will not have things its own way all the time. If judged by its public statements, the Quad greatly perturbs Beijing. Chinese officials regularly rail against “small circles” and bloc confrontation, code for the Quad.

The Quad cuts across one of China’s central objectives in Asia, which is the weakening of US alliances, and forces China to recalculate its expectations about how durable and robust Washington’s partnerships are. An expanded security role for the Quad, as many experts increasingly advocate, would be an important way of continuing to surprise China and show it that the US and its partners are capable of collective responses.

These facts in themselves are hugely important, and alone merit the Quad’s position as a central pillar in Australian foreign policy.

Delivering ‘public goods’ might not suffice

Where the Quad’s value becomes more debatable is when it comes to constraining China’s growing influence in the three key subregions of the Indo-Pacific: the Indian Ocean region, South-East Asia and the Pacific.

The initial thinking of Quad members has been that they will together deliver “public goods” such as vaccines or other assistance, thereby showing regional countries that they have options apart from China. The delivery of public goods to a grateful region, as the logic goes, will show that the Quad is constructive and not aimed at further polarising the Indo-Pacific.
As yet, there is no proof that this concept will work. The Quad’s first flagship initiative, to deliver vaccines, has been delayed to the point that it is no longer dealing with a pressing issue. The region is now awash with vaccines; pockets of low immunisation rates are mostly the result of vaccine hesitancy rather than a lack of supply.

Delays with joint projects are no surprise. Delivering even small projects jointly with another country – even one with similar objectives and procedures – is challenging, let alone when it involves four countries as large and different as the Quad members.

The Quad agenda is already unwieldly and set to sprawl further, with the US proposing two new ministerial meetings, of transport and energy ministers.

The major new initiative announced at this week’s Quad was to provide countries in the Indo-Pacific with technology and training to improve their maritime domain awareness by better tracking activity in their own waters with commercial satellite data.

Quad partners likely hope that this initiative will be welcomed by regional countries because it would help them address the impact of illegal fishing, of which China is a key perpetrator.

Bilateral relationships remain vital

Even leaving aside the question of delivery, a bigger question remains: whether providing public goods can help the Quad gain influence in regional countries.

First, the Quad must overcome scepticism from regional countries over concerns that by competing with China, the grouping is ramping up regional tensions. Second, the group has no mechanism to deal additional countries into the design or delivery of its programs.

And finally, the Quad is limited by the willingness of regional countries to push back against China. Even if the Quad, for example, shares data on China’s illicit maritime activities with its partners, it can do little if those partners prefer not to act on the information.

In the end, the most important tool for constraining China’s growing regional influence – whether in South-East Asia or the Pacific – is the strength of the individual bilateral relationships that the Quad members have with those countries. Labor’s new Foreign Minister Penny Wong clearly recognises this, given her decision to pay an early visit to Fiji.

Albanese and Wong also have good intentions to refocus on South-East Asia, which is long overdue. They will be charting a new course: engagement with Asia, even as Australia continues to push back against the region’s resident superpower.

The uses and the limits of the Quad

The Quad prevents China getting its own way all the time. But bilateral relations in the rest of the region are just as important in constraining Beijing. Originally published in the Australian Financial Review.

www.lowyinstitute.org

 

[WotTen]

THE USES AND THE LIMITS OF THE QUAD​

The problem with the Quad is that, despite all the anti-China rhetoric, Russia sees it as an anti-China-Russia alliance. This gives India pause to join any meaningful security initiatives and, thereby, takes the teeth out of this alliance.

 

[Indos]

 

[Indos]

Indonesia and Australia dont have any territorial dispute or even any kind of dispute. This fact is actually the good basis to have a good relation.

People to people relation also need to be nurtured. One of Indonesian basketball player get scholarship in NBA Academy in Australia and he has become the important player during SEAGAMES Hanoi week ago to defeat Philippine and get Gold medal.

Indonesia basketball team will go to Australia and stay there for about a month to have friendly match with about 10 Australian professional basketball teams.

They dont have strong team in the country that can match them and we have to form a team full of import players from our basketball league to have around 5-6 match before the team compete in Seagames

 

[Maula Jatt]

I wonder why don't they add Indonesia in quad?

 

[Indos]

I wonder why don't they add Indonesia in quad?

It is because Indonesia has foreign policy that we call as bebas and aktif ( free and active ). This is set up during Soeharto era and we havent changed it.

If you see Indonesia people perception, Indonesians people beside see China as threat, we also see USA as threat. This is also what has been seen in recent survey made by Australia think thank, Lowy Institute. This is basically a logic thinking as the big nation in SEA, basically only USA and China that can potentially harm Indonesia. It is why we still preserve hankamrata doctrine where it is a total war doctrine where civilians are involved and mimic what happen during our independence war with Dutch.

Indonesian Muslim that form 88 percent of Indonesian people has more faith with their Muslim brothers and sisters in Muslim world which is seen in the survey where Saudi Arabia and UAE is regarded as the closes ally based on people mind.

 

[Indos]

The problem with the Quad is that, despite all the anti-China rhetoric, Russia sees it as an anti-China-Russia alliance. This gives India pause to join any meaningful security initiatives and, thereby, takes the teeth out of this alliance.

From my point of view, India entering Quad is because of the heating tension with China in the border Himalayan areas. It is basically just a tit for tat respond, I doubt India has full commitment on the alliance.

The contested area in SCS is far from India homeland and it is not regarded as their sphere of influence which is limited to South Asia region where they also try to extend it into Central Asia region which is also very close to their territory.

We will see whether India will allow their new aircraft carrier to have joint patrol in SCS with other Quad members after it is commissioned and has been loaded with fighters. Something that we probably could see after 2025.