EXPANDING THE AXIS OF GOOD:

PM hails pact with Indonesia (Mark Forbes, April 5, 2005, The Age)

A new era of closer ties between Australia and Indonesia has been hailed by Prime Minister John Howard and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono after they signed a groundbreaking agreement in Canberra yesterday.

The declaration for a "comprehensive partnership" aims to increase economic, political and security ties, and includes shared opposition to secessionist movements in Indonesia, and building military relations.

Dr Yudhoyono underlined the stronger ties by putting pressure on Malaysia over its effort to exclude Australia from this year's East Asian Summit in Kuala Lumpur, saying greater co-operation in East Asia "must involve Australia".

Lauding yesterday's declaration as a landmark for a closer relationship, Dr Yudhoyono said it assumed "that the security, prosperity and stability of Indonesia and Australia are interconnected".

Events since the Bali bombing, including the tsunami relief effort, had prompted both nations to begin to relate to each other differently, Dr Yudhoyono said. "And that is the very purpose of my visit to your great country: to affirm our special relations, and to make it even stronger."

Notable that the Madrid bombing was the only one that worked in the Islamicists favor.

Posted by Orrin Judd at April 4, 2005 5:58 PM