National flags of Indonesia and Australia flutter before a meeting between Indonesia’s Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto and Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles at the office of the Defence Ministry in Jakarta on February 23, 2024.
Yasuyoshi Chiba | Afp | Getty Images
Australia and Indonesia agreed a treaty-level defense cooperation agreement which allow Australian and Indonesian militaries to operate from each other’s countries, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday.
“It will be a vital plank for our two countries to support each other’s security, which is vital to both countries, but also to the stability of the region that we share,” Albanese told a joint press conference in Canberra with Indonesia President-elect Prabowo Subianto.
Australia and Indonesia share the world’s longest maritime boundary and already collaborate on a number of issues, including security, people-trafficking and drug smuggling.
“The map really determines that Australia and Indonesia as the closest of neighbours have a shared destiny, but from this moment forth, that destiny is very much defined by deep strategic trust,” Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said.
Australia has struck a number of defense deals in recent years, most notably the AUKUS military alliance with the United States and Great Britain that angered China.
Prabowo said at a forum last November that Indonesia was committed to its policy of non-alignment and would keep good ties with both China and the United States.