US Ambassador to ASEAN: AUKUS Strengthens Indo-Pacific Regional Stability

Jakarta (ANTARA) - US Ambassador to ASEAN Kevin Kim has emphasised that the AUKUS partnership between the US, Australia, and the United Kingdom continues to strengthen stability in the region. “This capability aims to protect Australia’s sovereignty, enabling them to protect their waters,” Kim stated during a closed-door discussion with the media in Jakarta on Friday.

Kim noted that, having assisted in drafting the initial legislation for AUKUS, he is a strong supporter of the initiative, a sentiment shared by the US President. He explained that the partnership is fundamentally designed to deepen cooperation based on the defence industry. The second pillar of the AUKUS partnership specifically aims to promote the defence industrial base between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

In light of current regional developments, the programmes pursued within the partnership are intended to help stabilise the situation. “The way we formulate it is: how do we provide US solutions to regional challenges?” the Ambassador remarked.

He pointed out that one of the critical regional and global challenges is the rise of fraudulent scam centres, which has become a primary focus for the FBI. “The FBI is very focused on domestic issues, but they are willing to travel to Indonesia, Cambodia, and Thailand to tackle the issue of scam centres because it affects everyone worldwide,” said Kim.

In this endeavour, the US has collaborated with private sector entities such as Google and Meta to advance ten principles of public-private partnerships to combat these scam centres. Kim concluded that the US will continue to work towards addressing these issues and will provide ongoing support through both bilateral channels and cooperation with ASEAN to combat regional threats.