BRENDAN NICHOLSON AND MARK DODD
DEFENCE Minister Stephen Smith has confirmed that Australia and the US are actively discussing future joint military exercises with Indonesian and Chinese forces in the Top End.
Mr Smith said the possibility of such exercises was among the issues raised at yesterday's meeting of Australian and Indonesian foreign affairs and defence ministers in Canberra.
Mr Smith recalled that, after the announcement during US President Barack Obama's visit to Darwin last year that a Marine taskforce group would train in northern Australia, Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono suggested that Australia, the US and Indonesian forces should exercise together.
"I've also seen suggestions subsequently that maybe you could have Australia, US, Indonesia and other countries, including and, in particular, China," Mr Smith said. "We spoke about this in passing today, and we don't discount that down the track."
Mr Smith said the focus now was to use the East Asia Summit humanitarian assistance and disaster relief framework to build the necessary links with Indonesia and other nations in the region.
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