ndonesia is bolstering its maritime security cooperation with Japan after the two countries held a bilateral meeting that reaffirmed their shared goal of maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific amid rising tensions in the region.
President Prabowo Subianto and several of his cabinet members welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and his entourage at the Bogor Palace in West Java on Saturday, marking the two leaders’ first meeting since they assumed office in October.
Prabowo told Ishiba that he viewed Japan as “a long-standing partner and friend” and that he would like Tokyo to contribute to his administration’s key priorities, including improving Indonesia’s defense capabilities.
Japan is a close ally of the United States in the Indo-Pacific region and has recently expressed concerns over China’s increasing activity in the South China Sea – one of the world’s busiest waterways which Beijing claims almost in its entirety.
Indonesia is a non-claimant to the South China Sea dispute, though it has also run into problems with China in adjacent waters. Japan has been helping Indonesia in the field of maritime security.
Saturday’s bilateral meeting between Indonesia and Japan resulted in an agreement for Tokyo to give Jakarta high-speed patrol boats using a cooperation framework called the Official Security Assistance (OSA).
The two countries also agreed to continue holding the two-plus-two foreign and defense ministers’ meetings and to establish a forum on maritime security that seeks to have practitioners discuss defense equipment cooperation and transfer of technology.
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