{"id":31046,"date":"2017-03-24T12:30:31","date_gmt":"2017-03-24T01:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=31046"},"modified":"2017-03-24T10:41:20","modified_gmt":"2017-03-23T23:41:20","slug":"maritime-recalibration-indonesia-australia-defence-relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/maritime-recalibration-indonesia-australia-defence-relations\/","title":{"rendered":"The (maritime) recalibration of Indonesia\u2013Australia defence relations"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
Last week Indonesian defence minister, Ryamizard Ryacudu, met with his Australian counterpart, Marise Payne, for the annual Indonesia\u2013Australia Defence Ministers\u2019 meeting<\/a>. On the face of it, defence relations between Indonesia and Australia seem to be back on track following the brief suspension<\/a> of defence language training cooperation in December. Indeed, the broad priorities and common interests discussed in the meeting were encouraging.<\/p>\n Minister Payne highlighted<\/a> the importance of ASEAN security frameworks as well as the support for the recently signed Joint Declaration on Maritime Cooperation<\/a>.\u00a0Issues relating to defence science and technology as well as regional peacekeeping were also raised.<\/p>\n From the Indonesian side<\/a>, Minister Ryacudu addressed the issue of American military presence in Australia and his expectation that Australia might encourage South Pacific states to support Indonesia\u2019s territorial integrity. He also emphasised President Widodo\u2019s Global Maritime Fulcrum<\/a> (GMF) vision and Indonesia\u2019s role in the Indian Ocean Rim Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n We should now consider broad recalibrations at three levels to strengthen the defence relationship and make it less \u2018incident-prone\u2019. First, at the bilateral level, President Widodo\u2019s GMF doctrine could become a starting point to strategically align our mutual interests. Although the doctrine was launched<\/a> in 2014, the policy priorities and programs only materialised after he signed Presidential Regulation No. 16 on Indonesian Sea Policy<\/a> late last month.<\/p>\n The decree came with both with a long-term framework and a short-term action scheme (see breakdown here<\/a>). These documents reflect the government’s desire to achieve a dozen maritime-related goals ranging from marine sustainability to diplomatic initiatives. They could also serve as a \u2018set of menus\u2019 through which Canberra could tailor and refine the recent joint maritime declaration\u2014whether they relate to the economy, security, or even people-to-people exchanges. Strategically linking bilateral relations to Jakarta\u2019s GMF and Sea Policy provides some domestic political cushion in Jakarta, helps generate a substantive framework for discussion, and elevates the regional potential of the partnership.<\/p>\n