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Australia, Indonesia dial in to talk AUKUS
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday that he had had a “very warm conversation” with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo by phone on Monday evening to "reassure" him about the new AUKUS partnership with the United States and Britain.
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A Royal Australian Navy diesel and electric-powered Collins Class submarine sits in Sydney Harbor on Oct. 12, 2016. Australia awarded a French contractor the main contract to design and build its next generation of submarines in 2016 but reneged on the deal in favor of plans to acquire nuclear-powered submarines from the United States and Britain under the new AUKUS partnership. (AFP/Peter Parks)
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ustralian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday that he had had a “very warm conversation” with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo by phone while en route to the United States to attend a summit of Western allies and subsequent United Nations engagements.
Relations between the two Indo-Pacific neighbors have cooled somewhat after Canberra’s announcement last week that it would acquire nuclear-powered submarines from the US and United Kingdom as part of a new trilateral deal dubbed AUKUS.
“I spoke to President Widodo on the way over here. We had a very warm conversation. I was able to reassure him, particularly about the issues on non-proliferation and further explained the arrangements around AUKUS,” Morrison said at a press conference in New York upon his arrival, according to a transcript issued on Tuesday.
“All countries have to take decisions in their interests. All countries in the region understand that,” he added.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah confirmed that President Jokowi had taken a call with Morrison on Monday evening but did not say what was discussed.
Separately, presidential spokesman Fadjroel Rahman told The Jakarta Post that he was “not yet privy to the topics discussed, as it was a private conversation”.
Indonesian officials were informed of the launch of the AUKUS partnership at the last minute, even though Canberra had sent its foreign and defense ministers to Jakarta a week prior.
