Indonesia and Australia announced plans to broaden their recently forged security partnership by developing trilateral arrangements that would bring Japan and Papua New Guinea into cooperative frameworks, Indonesian Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said after talks with Australian counterpart Richard Marles on Thursday.
The move follows a security treaty signed last month between Jakarta and Canberra that commits the two countries to consult one another if either is threatened. Sjafrie told reporters the expanded architecture will see trilateral mechanisms formed with Japan, and separately with Papua New Guinea, and that Canberra and Jakarta will also pursue closer intelligence sharing as part of the broader cooperation. He gave few details on the mechanics or timelines for the new arrangements.
Marles and Sjafrie also discussed plans to upgrade defence infrastructure on the island of Morotai in North Maluku, with the view of developing it as a training facility. Marles stressed the base would remain Indonesian sovereign territory while noting there would be opportunities for Australian forces to train there. “The facility would belong to Indonesia, but there would be opportunities for Australia to engage in training at the base,” he told reporters.
Sjafrie said access to Morotai would be extended beyond Australia to military personnel from other regional partners, including the Philippines and Singapore. He also referenced another facility in North Kalimantan that Jakarta is developing with Singapore and said that too would be accessible to partner forces for training purposes. The ministers did not provide a timetable for upgrades or confirm the scale of foreign access.
The announcement marks the latest development in a rapid deepening of defence ties between Indonesia and Australia. While last month’s treaty formalised bilateral consultation obligations, the new plan to fold Japan and Papua New Guinea into trilateral arrangements signals an ambition to multilateralise aspects of security cooperation across the northern approaches of the Indo-Pacific. Officials said intelligence-sharing initiatives would be part of the expanded cooperation, but declined to outline operational details.
Observers note the Morotai proposal would expand Indonesia’s capacity to host multinational training in its eastern provinces, and the mention of North Kalimantan highlights Jakarta’s ongoing partnerships with Singapore. Neither minister outlined force levels, funding commitments or legal arrangements for foreign troops using Indonesian facilities, and no date was given for when trilateral agreements would be finalised.
The two defence ministers described the talks as constructive and part of ongoing engagement between the neighbours. The next steps appear to involve technical and diplomatic work to define the scope of intelligence exchanges and to plan the infrastructure upgrades required at Morotai and other sites before multinational training can begin.
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