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."