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Albanese heralds ‘strategic reset’ of Australia-Indonesia relations: CSIS
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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (right) and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) ride bamboo bicycles at the Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java, on June 6. (AFP/Laily Rachev)
U
nder prime minister Anthony Albanese’s leadership, Australia is poised to shift its priorities toward relations with close neighbors such as Indonesia, some analysts say, in a possible departure from the previous government’s focus on fellow anglophone states.
Soon after his inauguration as premier in late May, the Labor Party leader went to Tokyo for a previously scheduled summit with Japanese, Indian and United States leaders – the constituents of the Quad alliance. However, the first stop on his maiden trip in office was to Indonesia, where he and members of his cabinet met with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo last week.
Lina Alexandra, a senior researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Jakarta-based think tank, said that while it was traditional for a new Australian premier to visit Indonesia early on, Albanese’s trip had indicated that his administration placed Indonesia prominently in its foreign policy.
She compared Albanese to his predecessor, Scott Morrison, who prioritized Australia’s relations with the United States and the United Kingdom, strengthening perceptions of Australia’s close alignment with those states.
She said the Albanese administration had shown commitment to Australia’s bilateral relationship with Indonesia, such as by increasing the number of Indonesians who would be admitted to Australia on working holiday visas to 5,000 annually, through its work related to the New Colombo Plan student exchange program and through the planned reinvigoration of Indonesian language studies at Australian schools.
Meanwhile, for Australia’s broader relations with ASEAN, Albanese pledged A$470 million (US$327.40 million) over four years for development in the region.
“This is a signal that there will be a strategic reset in which Australia will look at Indonesia and countries in Southeast Asia more seriously,” Lina said during a discussion on Thursday.
