{"id":18272,"date":"2026-05-07T02:45:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T02:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/18272\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T02:45:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T02:45:53","slug":"indonesia-japan-sign-defence-pact-after-tokyo-unlocks-arms-exports-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/18272\/","title":{"rendered":"Indonesia, Japan sign defence pact after Tokyo unlocks arms exports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">JAKARTA \u2013 The defence ministers of Indonesia and Japan signed a cooperation agreement on May 4, Jakarta said, underlining the need to safeguard regional peace and stability in the face of global tumult.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The signing during Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi\u2019s visit to Indonesia came after Tokyo <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/asia\/east-asia\/japan-opens-door-to-global-arms-market-with-biggest-export-rule-change-in-decades?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\">eased a decades-old curb on arms exports<\/a> in April, allowing firms to sell lethal weapons to any of the 17 countries with which Japan has defence agreements.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Indonesian defence ministry spokesman Rico Ricardo Sirait told AFP that the agreement was part of efforts to improve defence cooperation between the two countries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The pact covers issues including collaboration in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, joint exercises and maritime cooperation, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He added that it also \u201copens up opportunities for cooperation in defence equipment and technology\u201d while \u201cprioritising&#8230; regional stability\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, a former general, has been pushing to modernise the country\u2019s ageing military assets since taking office in 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mr Koizumi earlier said that defence cooperation with Indonesia would make a \u201ccontribution to peace and stability&#8230; for the region as a whole\u201d amid \u201can increasingly complex and tense international situation\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">After his talks with Indonesia\u2019s Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin in Jakarta, Mr Koizumi is bound for the Philippines, where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/asia\/se-asia\/japan-to-join-army-drills-on-philippine-soil-in-first-since-wwii?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\">Japanese forces are taking part in a joint military exercise<\/a> also including the US.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Indonesia in April concluded a defence cooperation pact with the US, agreed to increase security ties with France, and inked an oil deal with Russia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Jakarta, while defending a non-aligned diplomatic posture it calls \u201cfree and active\u201d, in 2025 joined the BRICS bloc of emerging economies that includes Russia and US rival China.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mr Prabowo has also signed a trade deal with US President Donald Trump and joined his so-called \u201cBoard of Peace\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Last week, Jakarta said it was still considering a US request for blanket overflight clearance, which, if approved, analysts say could be seen as an alignment with Washington over Beijing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Indonesia is strategically located on the Malacca Strait \u2013 the world\u2019s busiest chokepoint for oil and petroleum liquids, according to the US Energy Information Administration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The vast majority of China-bound oil travels through the strait. AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JAKARTA \u2013 The defence ministers of Indonesia and Japan signed a cooperation agreement on May 4, Jakarta said,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18273,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-18272","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tokyo","8":"tag-japan","9":"tag-tokyo"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}