Australian Minister of Defence Stephen Smith yesterday said Canberra would seriously consider trilateral military training with the US and China following the announcement of a US troop buildup in Darwin.
Smith said the move was suggested by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono following talks with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard at last weekend’s East Asia Summit in Bali after Beijing criticized the troop boost.
“We don’t see it as something which would necessarily occur in the short term, but it’s a good suggestion, it’s an interesting suggestion,” Smith said.
“It’s a positive suggestion and one which I think in the longer term could fall for serious consideration,” he said.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa expressed reservations about the plan to bring about 2,500 US Marines to northern Australia by 2016 to 2017, unveiled by US President Barack Obama during a flying visit to Canberra last week.
Natalegawa warned that it could inflame relations and create a “vicious circle of tensions and mistrust” in the region, urging transparency, particularly about the motives behind the move.
Indonesia is building up its own military cooperation with US forces.
The US and its allies have expressed concern over the intentions behind China’s military build-up and called for greater transparency.
Smith said Australia already did training and exercises with China and had completed joint live-firing drills with its navy for the first time last year.
“We’re working very hard with China and the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] to do precisely that, to do some training to do some exercises and we encourage China and the United States to do that themselves as well,” he said.
US Ambassador to Australia Jeffrey Bleich said there was “a lot of variables,” but Washington was interested in strengthening military ties.
“For the broad brushstrokes yes, we want to work more with the Chinese military and we’re looking for opportunities to cooperate with all countries in the region,” Bleich told the Australian newspaper.
“If you have a lot of nations rising quickly and not understanding each other’s intentions you’re always concerned about the risk of a misunderstanding. You want to be prepared for that,” Bleich said.
The US and Chinese navies have held joint search-and-rescue drills. However, they do not stage joint live-fire drills like those the US has with South Korea.
PRICE STABILIZATION: The Ministry of Economic Affairs has urged the legislature to support the Cabinet’s supplementary budget for state-owned energy companies State-owned oil supplier CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) on Saturday announced that it would raise domestic gasoline prices by NT$0.7 (US$0.02) per liter and diesel prices by NT$0.6 per liter this week after international crude oil prices rose above US$100 per barrel last week. Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) yesterday said that it matched CPC’s price adjustments for this week. The decisions end a six-week period during which CPC and Formosa kept fuel prices in Taiwan unchanged. Retail gasoline prices this week would rise to NT$31.2, NT$32.7 and NT$34.7 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively at CPC
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More than 100 Taiwanese-Americans, Taiwanese lawmakers and members of civic groups on Saturday marched through New York City to call for Taiwan’s participation in the UN, with Marshall Island Permanent Representative to the UN John Silk joining the event to show support. Participants chanted: “UN for Taiwan” and “Keep Taiwan Free” as they marched through central Manhattan, passing Times Square and Bryant Park before ending near the New York Public Library. The annual march brought together Taiwanese community groups from across the US East Coast. Silk expressed hope that Taiwan would one day be able to participate in UN meetings
Two aides at independent Legislator May Chin’s (高金素梅) office were ordered detained incommunicado yesterday in a broadening probe into alleged Chinese espionage by Chin’s former chief of staff, Chang Chun-chieh (張俊傑). The move to hold Lin I-chun (林怡君) and current chief of staff Chen Chih-huang (陳智葟) in custody came four days after Chang, indicted on corruption charges, cut off his electronic monitoring wristband and jumped bail. The High Prosecutors’ Office said that it believes Chang had developed a Chinese spy ring, which might have operated for more than a decade, with funding from China, and that Lin and Chen were suspected of
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