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Spying on shrimp trade talks ‘mind-boggling’
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Indonesia described reports that Australia had listened in on government trade discussions with lawyers as mind-boggling, saying that to contend they had anything to do with security was going too far.
Often prickly relations have hit a new low since Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott took office last September, with Jakarta furious at reports Australia wiretapped the phones of top Indonesian officials including the president and his wife.
“To suggest that the future of shrimp exports by Indonesia to the United States has an impact on Australian security is a little too much and begs some serious questions as to what it’s all about,” Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said at a press conference with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Jakarta yesterday.
“In our view, neighbors like Indonesia and Australia should be looking out for each other, not turning against each other.”
Natalegawa’s comments follow revelations that Australia notified the US National Security Agency it was conducting surveillance of talks between the Indonesian government and an unnamed US law firm on bilateral trade.
A document obtained by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden shows the firm was monitored while representing the Indonesian government in trade disputes with the United States, according to The New York Times.
Natalegawa said: “I have come across statements that Australia collects intelligence to save Australian lives, lives of other people, to promote Australian values,” Natalegawa added. “But I must say I find it a bit mind-boggling, a bit difficult how I can reconcile discussions about shrimps and the impact on Australian security.”
Relations are also strained over asylum-seekers attempting to reach Australia via Indonesia. Australia has begun a “turn back the boats” policy, which Natalegawa criticized as “unhelpful.”
Indonesia suspended police and intelligence cooperation on asylum-seekers with its neighbor late last year following earlier reports of wire-tapping of top officials.
Kerry, asked about the US response to the surveillance issue, cited a series of reforms to US intelligence-gathering.
“We take this issue very seriously which is why President Obama laid out a series of concrete and substantial reforms. The president said in his speech on this subject, the United States does not collect intelligence to afford a competitive advantage for US companies or US commercial sectors.”
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