Australia and Indonesia said they are close to signing a new bilateral defense treaty that would commit both countries to consult each other in the event of a threat.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made the announcement at a joint press conference in Sydney on Wednesday during the Indonesian leader’s first state visit to Australia.
What have Australia and Indonesia agreed to?
“The governments of Australia and Indonesia have just completed negotiations on a new bilateral treaty on our common security,” Albanese told reporters in a statement accompanying Prabowo.
“This treaty will commit Australia and Indonesia to consult on a regular basis at a leader and ministerial level on security matters, to identify and undertake mutually beneficial security activities, and, if the security of either or both is threatened, to consult and consider what measures might be taken individually or jointly to address those threats,” Albanese said.
He said both countries recognized that cooperative action was the best way to ensure peace and stability in the region.
Albanese said he hoped to sign the full treaty during a visit to Indonesia in January.
In his turn, Prabowo said: “Good neighbors will help each other in times of difficulties and in Indonesian culture, we have a saying that when we face an emergency, it is our neighbor who will help us.
“Our determination is to maintain the best relations possible to enhance and guarantee security for both our countries,” he said.
In October, Australia signed a major security agreement with another regional neighbour, Papua New Guinea, under which both countries are obliged to come to each other’s aid if they are attacked.
That agreement is also being seen as a measure to counter China’s growing influence in the region.
complex security situation
Australia and Indonesia signed their first security agreement 30 years ago, but it was revoked by Indonesia in 1999, when Australia sent troops to East Timor, which was then under Indonesian rule, to maintain order amid violence as the country moved to gain independence.
Since then, several other security agreements have been signed between the two countries, most notably the so-called Lombok Treaty of 2006.
However, Indonesia has also recently been cooperating with countries that are not allies of the US, unlike Australia.
Last year it conducted military exercises simultaneously with both Russia and Australia.
Earlier this year, Prabowo joined Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in China’s largest-ever military parade after Indonesia and China held joint “disaster relief” exercises in 2024.
Indonesia also recently became a member of BRICS, a grouping widely seen as a rival to the G7, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Edited by Shawn Sinico