U.S. defence chief backs Indonesia's military modernisation drive

autotldr Bot , 10 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

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JAKARTA, Aug 25 (Reuters) - United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stressed the importance of modernising Indonesia’s military in a meeting with its defence chief, as Washington shores up ties in Southeast Asia amid geopolitical rivalry with China.

Austin on Thursday hosted at the Pentagon Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto, a former special forces commander and political veteran who is expected to run in next year’s presidential election.

The meeting comes as Indonesia, an archipelago of 270 million people, looks to upgrade its military and replace its ageing hardware, earmarking 134.3 trillion rupiah ($8.89 billion) this year for defence, the biggest allocation in its state budget, with a similar amount for next year.

For the past decade, Indonesia’s defence spending per capita and as a percentage of gross domestic product has been the lowest among Southeast Asia’s six emerging market economies, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) think tank.

On Monday it announced a deal to buy 24 transport helicopters from U.S. weapons maker Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) for an undisclosed fee.

Indonesia’s defence ministry said the two countries were committed to keeping peace, security and stability in the region as well as maintaining “an open, inclusive, and rule-based order.”

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