INDONESIA HAS NO INTENTION OF CONCLUDING DEFENSE PACT WITH CHINA
The Jakarta Post - November 8, 2007BEIJING (Antara): Indonesia has no intention of concluding a defense pact with China after signing a defense cooperation agreement with Beijing because it pursues an active and independent foreign policy, Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said during his visit to the country on Thursday.
"We only want to improve our defense cooperation with China. We have no intention of signing a defense treaty," Juwono said.
The Indonesian minister and his Chinese counterpart, Cao Gangchuan, represented their respective governments at the signing of a defense cooperation agreement in Beijing on Wednesday.
Juwono said the signing of the agreement was a follow-up to the two countries’ strategic partnership accord signed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and President Hu Jintao in Jakarta in April 2005.
Juwono said the defense cooperation between Indonesia and China would not develop into a defense treaty because it was only focused on cooperation in various fields such as transfer and exchange of technology, exchange of military students, and the possibility of arms purchases.
He said Indonesia was certain China had no territorial expansion ambitions because, like Indonesia, it still had many internal problems to overcome.
"Both China and Indonesia still have domestic problems they have to overcome," Juwono said, adding that the problem in Indonesia was poverty eradication. (**)
Source: The Jakarta Post - www.thejakartapost.com