Indonesia, Japan discuss defence ties after Tokyo unlocks arms exports

Japan's Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said defence cooperation with Indonesia would make a "contribution to peace and stability ... for the region as a whole" amid "an increasingly complex and tense international situation".

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JAKARTA: The defence ministers of Indonesia and Japan met in Jakarta on Monday (May 4) to sign a defence cooperation agreement, underlining the need to safeguard regional peace and stability in the face of global tumult.

Indonesia's Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said he would ink an agreement with his Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi, although details of the pact were not shared publicly and there was no official confirmation that they had signed it.

Japan's defence ministry has said Koizumi would seek to bolster exchanges in the areas of "defence equipment and technology".

Tokyo eased a decades-old curb on arms exports last month, allowing firms to sell lethal weapons to any of the 17 countries with which Japan has defence agreements.

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Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto, a former general, has been pushing to modernise the country's ageing military assets since taking office in 2024.

After Indonesia, Koizumi is bound for the Philippines, where Japanese forces are taking part in a joint military exercise also including the United States.

On Monday, Koizumi said defence cooperation with Indonesia would make a "contribution to peace and stability ... for the region as a whole" amid "an increasingly complex and tense international situation".

He also told reporters he would discuss maritime security and joint drills with Sjafrie.

Indonesia last month concluded a defence cooperation pact with the United States, agreed to increase security ties with France, and inked an oil deal with Russia.

Jakarta, while defending a non-aligned diplomatic posture it calls "free and active", last year joined the BRICS bloc of emerging economies that includes Russia and US rival China.

Prabowo has also signed a trade deal with US President Donald Trump and joined his so-called "Board of Peace".

Last week, Jakarta said it was still considering a US request for blanket overflight clearance which, if approved, analysts say could be seen as an alignment with Washington over Beijing.

Indonesia is strategically located on the Malacca Strait - the world's busiest chokepoint for oil and petroleum liquids, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

The vast majority of China-bound oil travels through the strait.

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