TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsUS-RI ties 'unaffected' by surveillance scandal
New US Ambassador to Indonesia Robert O
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
N
ew US Ambassador to Indonesia Robert O. Blake Jr. heralded the bilateral ties as 'impressive' and underlined that the recent surveillance disclosure would not derail the countries' relationship.
'I don't think that there is mistrust [in our relationship]. I think there is good trust between the US and Indonesia. If there is any mistrust whatsoever, I would be glad to talk to our friends in the Foreign Ministry or the presidency [office],' Blake said during a roundtable discussion with the media on Monday.
Indonesia was in the list of countries ' which included Germany, France and Spain ' to lodge a complaint with the US government for its wiretapping activities.
The US Embassy in Jakarta has been in hot water following an article in the Sydney Morning Herald claiming that the US had tapped telephones and monitored communication networks from electronic surveillance facilities in US embassies and consulates across East and Southeast Asia.
The newspaper based its report on information disclosed by intelligence whistle-blower Edward Snowden. The article published on Oct. 29, 2013, included a top-secret map listing 90 US surveillance facilities worldwide, including communications ' intelligence facilities at embassies in Jakarta; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Bangkok, Thailand; Phnom Penh, Cambodia; and Yangon, Myanmar.
Following that report, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry officially summoned US Chargé d'Affaires ad interim Kristen Bauer in October 2013, for an explanation over the alleged existence of surveillance facilities at the US Embassy in Jakarta.
________________
'I don't think that there is mistrust [in our relationship]. I think there is good trust between the US and Indonesia. If there is any mistrust whatsoever, I would be glad to talk to our friends in the Foreign Ministry or the presidency [office].'
______________________
Without clarifying the allegation, Blake, who presented his credentials to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday, pointed out that President Barack Obama's speech recently should give comfort to Indonesians.
Obama laid out reform measures on the way intelligence was collected and the way security agencies operate.
He made it clear that US intelligence agencies would not spy on ordinary people. 'Spying is only on people who threaten US' national security,' Blake said, referring to Obama's speech.
Obama also noted that the US would not monitor the communications of leaders of close friends
and allies.
Blake said that the two governments had cooperated across areas ranging from security cooperation to collaboration on health, education, science and technology.
'I intend to support all those endeavors over the course of my term here,' he said.
He also argued that four years after the leaders of the two countries had signed the comprehensive partnership in 2010, the US-Indonesian relationship had developed into an unprecedented level of
cooperation.
'We see Indonesia as partner of growing importance to the US,' he said, adding the US appreciated Indonesia's active efforts to forge a code of conduct in the South China Sea.
Blake's appointment comes at a crucial time when the US is rebalancing its strategic posture toward Asia and his biggest task will be to build a strong economic partnership between the two countries.
Based on Indonesian statistics, the US is currently Indonesia's fifth-largest trading partner after Japan, China, Singapore and South Korea. Bilateral trade in 2012 was US$26.47 billion, slightly down from $27.27 billion in 2011. In the first four months of this year, two-way trade stood at $7.98 billion.
