Australia 'smooths' Indonesia-U.S. relations

Australia 'smooths' Indonesia-U.S. relations

HOBART, Australia (AFP): Australia has played a behind-the- scenes role in healing a rift between the United States and Indonesia, Prime Minister John Howard revealed yesterday.

Howard confirmed media reports of a previously undisclosed agreement for senior Australian and American officials to discuss Indonesia, with the first meeting in Washington on September 16.

Australia could only gain from using its "unique" position to help smooth relations between two of its most important friends, he said, after Washington's criticism of human rights abuses threatened to harm relations.

Howard confirmed here that he had raised the issue with President Bill Clinton in Washington in June.

He told Clinton that Australia had a "particular knowledge of this region and particular knowledge of circumstances inside Indonesia" and that it could help explain to the Americans what was happening in Indonesia.

Clinton had responded favorably and, as a result, working parties of officials from both sides had got together.

"I think it's a prime example of where a country such as Australia with good relations with Indonesia, exceptionally close relations with the U.S., is able to play a positive role," Howard said.

"And it's in our interests that the Americans remain involved in the region, in our interests that Americans properly understand the dynamics of the Indonesian polity and the dynamics of the Indonesian economy."