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| Plan to post up to 2,500 Marines in N.Australia by 2016-17 was unveiled by US President Barack Obama last week (AFP/File, Jim Watson) |
By Amy Coopes (AFP)
SYDNEY — Australia dismissed suggestions that China had been angered by plans for a US troop build-up in Darwin, saying its response had been moderate and talks on the issue were "cordial".
The plan to post up to 2,500 Marines in northern Australia by 2016-17 was unveiled by US President Barack Obama during a visit to Canberra last week and immediately labelled inappropriate by Beijing.
But Prime Minister Julia Gillard met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Indonesia over the weekend and said they had constructive discussions on the issue.
"Our meeting was a cordial one, it was a constructive one. We were looking to the future, it was a forward-looking meeting," Gillard told reporters in Bali.
"On the attitude of the Chinese government to these questions, I think that's best taken from the official statements of the Chinese government through its foreign ministry indicating that they've got a focus on peace and stability in the region, and so do we."
Jakarta also expressed concern over the troop expansion, with Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa warning it could inflame relations and create a "vicious circle of tensions and mistrust".
But while Southeast Asian nations fret over being squeezed between the competing interests of China and the United States, Indonesia at the same time is building up its own military cooperation with US forces.
Gillard said she had also discussed the issue with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during bilateral talks in Bali over the weekend.
"President Yudhoyono certainly understands that this is step forward in our defence cooperation with the United States, (that) we are a long-term ally of the United States, that this step forward in our defence cooperation is not aimed at any nation in our region," she said.
They had also discussed how the new arrangement would boost the capacity to meet "regional contingencies including natural disasters" as part of broader discussions about improving disaster readiness and responses, she added.
Defence Minister Stephen Smith earlier described China's response to the troop boost as "quite measured", moderate and appropriate.
"China, for a long time, has said that it doesn't believe there should be military alliances, but it understands that Australia has a military alliance with the United States," Smith told Australian television.
"My own judgement is that the response -- official response from China -- has frankly been a measured one. It hasn't been over the top.
"We continue to make the point publicly and privately to China that there's no inconsistency between a military alliance... with the United States and a comprehensive bilateral relationship with China."
Smith said it was very important to divorce commentary on the issue from official responses and that it was "really what they say at the top level" that mattered, not bellicose editorials in state-owned media outlets.
Smith said the deal unveiled by Obama included greater access for US military aircraft to northern Australia and "in the longer term" expanded ship and submarine visits to the nation's west coast.
But he dismissed media reports that the two countries were planning a joint Indian Ocean military base on remote Cocos Island, near Indonesia, saying "that discussion has not occurred".
"Down the track in the future, there may well be some possibility or prospect of greater utilisation of Cocos Island, but that's well down the track," he said.
"In the first instance, our Indian Ocean arrangement will be, in my view, greater naval access to our premier Indian Ocean naval base -- Sterling Base in Western Australia."
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