16/05/2025

FRIDAY | MAY 16, 2025

7 Australia, Indonesia discuss security and economic ties

Militants dead in operation on Myanmar border NEW DELHI: The Indian Army said at least 10 militants were killed in an operation that is underway in the troubled northeastern state of Manipur, bordering Myanmar. The deaths come months after Reuters reported in November that Indian militant groups that sought refuge in Myanmar and fought in its civil war had begun streaming back across the border to Manipur. “Ten cadres were neutralised and a sizeable quantity of arms and ammunition have been recovered.“ Stability has been at risk along the shared 1,650km border from the civil war in Myanmar after a military coup ousted an elected civilian government in February 2021. In a separate development, Indian security forces have killed 31 Maoist rebels during a three-week operation aimed at capturing strategic hills previously under the control of guerrillas, the government said. India is waging an all-out offensive against the last vestiges of the Naxalite rebellion, named after the village in the foothills of the Himalayas where the Maoist-inspired guerrilla movement began nearly six decades ago. More than 12,000 rebels, soldiers and civilians have died since a handful of villagers rose up against their feudal lords there in 1967. The latest gun battle took place in the forested Karreguttalu Hills along the border of the states of Chhattisgarh and Telangana, said Indian Home Minister Amit Shah in a post on X on Wednesday. “Security forces have eliminated 31 Naxalites in the largest operation against Naxalism to date. “The hill now waves the tricolour,“ he said, referring to the Indian flag. – AFP Vandalised colonial statue removed MELBOURNE: The Australian city of Melbourne will not replace a damaged monument to British explorer James Cook, the mayor said, for fear that it would inevitably be vandalised again. The granite and bronze memorial in the southeastern Australian city has been a favourite target of vandals, who tore it down last year and scrawled “cook the colony” on its surface. It was similarly defaced in 2020 with spray-painted slogans of “shame” and “destroy white supremacy”. Stephen Jolly, who is mayor of Yarra City in Melbourne’s inner suburbs, said: “I am not in favour of demolishing statues of people in the past, even problematic ones, but if we put it back up, it would just be damaged again.” Statues of colonial figures are frequently targeted by vandals to draw attention to the plight of Australia’s Indigenous peoples. – AFP

o First international visit to Jakarta shows priority placed on relationship: PM

SYDNEY: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto yesterday to discuss defence cooperation and global trade, after arriving in Jakarta on his first international visit since his re-election. Albanese, who was sworn into office on Tuesday after his centre-left Labour Party won an increased majority in parliament, said his visit showed the priority that Canberra places on defence and economic ties with Jakarta. He said the visit to one of the world’s largest democracies was Australian

the Philippines and Vietnam, angering its neighbours. In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague said Beijing’s claims had no legal basis. However, China rejects that decision. Pistorius said in Manila last August the “ruling remains valid, without any exceptions”. In September last year, two German warships went on a rare transit in the Indo-Pacific to demonstrate Berlin’s commitment to freedom of navigation. – Reuters in the archipelago’s easternmost province of Papua, about 1,200km north of the Australian city of Darwin, where a US Marine Corps rotational force is based for six months of the year. “Indonesia’s answer is no. They have made it very clear,” Albanese told reporters yesterday when asked about the matter. Russia will try to increase its influence in the region and Australia is responding by building ties with neighbours, including Indonesia, he added. Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior analyst for defence Euan Graham said the Australia-Indonesia relationship has “avoided serious crisis for more than a decade, and cooperation continues to move forward incrementally, there is greater stability than before”. However, wide differences remain, he added. “Jakarta sees China and Russia as vectors of opportunity more than threats and views the United States and China primarily through the same lens of great power rivalry. That is largely at odds with Canberra’s world view.” Albanese said the two leaders also discussed global trade. Indonesia is projected to be the fifth largest economy in the world by the end of the next decade. Australia wants to increase economic ties with Southeast Asia as it seeks to diversify export markets to reduce reliance on China, and in response to trade uncertainty caused by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Indonesia remains a “protected and challenging market” and a competitor to Australia in commodity exports, said Graham. – Reuters

ahead of official talks showed the depth of the relationship, he said. Australia struck a defence cooperation treaty with Indonesia last year and was hosting defence and maritime security training for Indonesian forces, said Albanese. Indonesia dismissed reports last month that Russia had requested to base military aircraft

“an important step forward in the relationship”. “We are talking about further strengthening our defence ties and also how we position our economic partnership, how we can build on that with investment,” he told reporters in Jakarta yesterday. An informal meeting with Prabowo on Wednesday evening

Albanese and Prabowo during a welcome ceremony at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

Germany, Philippines sign defence agreement MANILA: Germany and the

signed a defence agreement with New Zealand for expanded military cooperation and a similar deal with Canada is expected to be signed soon. A reciprocal access deal with Japan was ratified in December and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has approved the start of negotiations with France for a visiting forces agreement. Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, which is a vital trade artery, despite overlapping maritime claims by Brunei, Malaysia,

security, defence armament and logistics, and United Nations peacekeeping, Manila’s Defence Ministry announced yesterday. The deal follows a visit by Pistorius to Manila last year during which he and Teodoro committed to boosting long-term relations between their militaries. The Philippines’s defence cooperation arrangement with Berlin adds to a growing list of defence deals beyond its traditional ally the United States. Last month, the Philippines

Philippines have agreed to enhance defence ties and boost joint activities as Manila builds up a range of alliances to strengthen its position in a long-standing dispute with China in the contested South China Sea. Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro and German counterpart Boris Pistorius signed an “arrangement concerning defence cooperation” in Berlin on Wednesday, agreeing to expand cooperation to include cyber

18 Papuan separatists killed in military strike JAKARTA: Indonesia’s military has killed 18 Papuan separatists during an operation in its easternmost region of Papua, an official said yesterday. operation on Wednesday, military spokesperson Kristomei Sianturi said in a statement. The Indonesian military said it sustained no casualties.

claiming that they were soldiers disguised as gold miners. The Indonesian military has deployed some personnel in the area of Wednesday’s operation to “anticipate movements” from the remaining rebels, the statement said. – Reuters

The rebels have previously taken foreigners hostage, including a group of 26 wildlife researchers in 1996 and a New Zealand pilot who was released last year after being held for 19 months. Last month, the rebels said they had killed more than 17 people,

Rebels have fought a low-level campaign for independence in the resource-rich Papua region bordering Papua New Guinea ever since the area was controversially brought under Indonesian control following Dutch rule in a vote overseen by the United Nations in 1969.

The military seized dozens of munitions, including an assault rifle, bows and arrows, and an unspecified homemade weapon during the

A spokesperson for the Papua separatists did not immediately respond to request for comments.