JAKARTA: Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said yesterday Australia’s leader had made “important” commitments aimed at ending a row over spying but warned much more work was needed before ties returned to normal.
But even as tensions calmed with Canberra, they threatened to escalate elsewhere, with Yudhoyono saying his government would summon the South Korean and Singaporean envoys over new espionage claims.
Allegations that Australian spies tried to listen to the phones of Yudhoyono, his wife and his ministers in 2009 surfaced last week and sparked a diplomatic crisis.
Jakarta reacted furiously, ending cooperation on military exercises and in the key area of people-smuggling and recalling its ambassador from Australia.
Indonesia was further infuriated by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s failure to apologise or offer what it saw as a clear explanation.
But yesterday Yudhoyono struck a conciliatory tone after receiving a letter from Abbott aimed at calming the row with a key ally and trading partner.
The letter contained a “commitment from the Australian PM that Australia will not do anything in the future that will disadvantage or disturb Indonesia”, the president said.
“That is a very important point,” Yudhoyono added.
He said Abbott supported his proposal to come up with a “protocols” and a code of ethics to govern relations between the neighbours that were “clear, fair and abided to.”
Yudhoyono described a long process that would involve assigning the foreign minister or a special envoy to work with the Australians.
After the details were hammered out, a formal ceremony would have to take place to bring the new agreements into place, attended by both Abbott and Yudhoyono, said the president.
Only after the two countries have “regained trust” in this fashion could normal relations and cooperation be restored, said the president.
However Yudhoyono reacted angrily to new reports that South Korea and Singapore helped with US-Australian surveillance in the region.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported Monday that both countries played key roles in a “Five Eyes” intelligence network grouping the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
AFP
