Australia seeks weapons joint venture with Indonesia<\/p>\n
SYDNEY (AFP): Australia may embark on a joint venture
\npartnership producing weapons with the Indonesian government,
\nDefense Minister Robert Ray said yesterday.<\/p>\n
The proposal, which has been the subject of talks with
\nJakarta, is for the joint production of arms and weapons in
\narrangements similar to those previously undertaken with New
\nZealand and proposed with Malaysia, Ray said.<\/p>\n
His announcement follows Canberra's recent controversial
\ndecision to invite Indonesia to participate in a major Australian
\nmilitary exercise.<\/p>\n
It also coincides with mounting pressure here for a tougher
\nstance by Canberra against alleged human rights abuses by
\nIndonesian troops in East Timor and with a decision by the U.S.
\nCongress last month to ban small arms sales to Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Ray said: \"The proposal we've discussed with Indonesia is that
\narms and weapons platforms are so expensive that we may go into
\njoint production - the same as we've proposed to do with Malaysia
\nand have done so with New Zealand over the years.\"<\/p>\n
However, no specific proposals for weapons production with
\nIndonesia had yet been put forward, he said in an interview for
\nABC television during a ceremony in Queensland to farewell an
\nAustralian army medical team leaving for Rwanda.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has in recent years become the focal point of
\nAustralia's thrust into Asia, with increasingly warm bilateral
\nlinks and friendship between the two government and their leaders
\nIndonesian President Soeharto and Australian Prime Minister Paul
\nKeating.<\/p>\n
Asked about the U.S. Congress ban on arms sales to Indonesia,
\nRay said: \"The U.S. attitude is that they would like to see some
\nchanges in Indonesian approaches.<\/p>\n
Kangaroo '95<\/p>\n
\"We do see changes in Indonesia, we see an improving not a
\ndeclining human rights record.\"<\/p>\n
Foreign Minister Gareth Evans has said the U.S. ban on arms
\nsales will achieve nothing.<\/p>\n
Canberra has been criticized by the East Timorese community
\nfor inviting Indonesian military participation in a multi-
\nnational defense exercise Kangaroo '95, in which 15,000 troops
\nwill take part along with naval and air forces.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has previously had observer status for the three-
\nyearly Kangaroo exercises held in the Northern Territory, home to
\nmany East Timorese refugees who are against the integration
\nof their territory, a former Portuguese colony, into Indonesia in
\n1976.<\/p>\n
Among Canberra's critics, Australia's Roman Catholic Primate,
\nCardinal Edward Clancy, has condemned as \"half-hearted\" and
\n\"soft\" its attitude to Indonesian human rights abuses in East
\nTimor.<\/p>\n
Opposition defense spokesman Peter Reith called on the
\ngovernment yesterday to \"come clean\" with its proposals.<\/p>",
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