A Guardian report indicated that Australia fears China’s expansion and aggression in Southeast Asia and the Pacific and is willing to turn a blind eye to the human rights violations that are going on in West Papua. The Australia defense force has been training Indonesian military as a buffer against Chinese expansion and aggression.
As reported by the Guardian, Australia is seeking to strengthen its defence relationship with Indonesia, despite well-documented human rights abuses by the Indonesian military in West Papua.
As tens of thousands of West Papuan civilians are turned into refugees in their own land and innocents are allegedly tortured and gunned down by Indonesian soldiers, Australia is embarking on further training and support for the Indonesian military and its counter-terrorism police.
Human rights considerations appear to have been pushed down the list of diplomatic priorities.
The Guardian
While the report is accurate, it is important to note that the counter-terrorism training that the Indonesian military, and the USDF, for that matter, receives from the Australian army is not used against China. These trainings, military equipment, and other stuff the Indonesian military received from Australia are used throughout West Papua, not Beijing. In other words, the Australian Defense Force and the United States military are training Indonesian soldiers to go after indigenous West Papuans, making them part of the Indonesian ‘human rights’ violations against our people.
It is a fact that the Indonesian military has never faced China or any other external foe in battle. They are waging wars against indigenous West Papuans instead. So, the idea that the Australians are training Indonesian forces to face China is simply a ruse.
Facts
If Australia and the United States are so concerned about China, maybe they should tell the world about their relationship with the Chinese government. It is a fact that Chinese investors around the world have direct links to the Chinese Communist Party. In Australia, for instance, China is the leading investor, investing in agricultural lands. This accounts for 13% of all foreign investments. The report stated:
Their investments increased by 0.5 per cent, bringing Chinese interests’ total area of Australian agricultural land to 9,199,000 hectares or 2.4 per cent over the period to June 2019.
Yahoo News
How about the United States? If China is such a huge threat to America, one must know that Beijing and Washington, D.C., are working together behind closed doors on areas of mutual interest. Government records indicate that China holds a major portion of US debt.
China is one of the United States’s largest creditors, owning about $859.4 billion in U.S. debt. United States Department of Treasury. “Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities.”
Read the article
Is Indonesia really a Chinese enemy or rival? Facts tell a different story. China is developing Indonesia. In fact, over the last few years, Indonesia has been working together with China on major infrastructure projects, including the development of a major railway across Indonesia. CNN reported about this just last month (October 2023):
Indonesia has launched Southeast Asia’s first-ever bullet train, a high-speed rail line that will connect two of its largest cities.
The $7.3 billion project, part of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative and largely funded by Chinese state-owned firms, opened to the public on Monday following a series of delays and setbacks.
CNN
So, the justification for the Australian military arming of Indonesia appears to be superficial. The country that is supposed to be a buffer against China is being developed by China itself. The $7 billion (USD) project is not only China’s major project in Indonesia; Beijing also proposed its expansion of development in Indonesia in the areas of agriculture and fishery; in some areas, the proposal had already been implemented.
While the two most important democratic countries in the world—Australia and the USA—trained and equipped the Indonesian military against an imaginary enemy—China—and are trying to tell us that they are doing so because of China’s threat, they are doing business with each other behind closed doors. China is not only doing business with Australia, the United States, and other democratic countries; they are also in Indonesia with major developments. So, who are they trying to deceive?
Indonesia and its funders are violating West Papuan rights
Indonesian human rights violations in West Papua are funded by the very countries that claim to be the world’s leading advocates for civil rights, human rights, freedom, democratic rights, liberalism, etc. It is time for them to act out their own words; it is time for them to tell the world they are funding the genocide of our people, or to tell Indonesia to stop killing West Papuan children.
WPHRC
Washington, D.C