{"id":535582,"date":"2026-03-12T13:14:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T13:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/535582\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T13:14:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T13:14:19","slug":"joint-training-base-planned-for-morotai-island-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/535582\/","title":{"rendered":"Joint training base planned for Morotai Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

March 12, 2026 \u2014 10:00pm<\/p>\n

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Singapore\/Jakarta: Australia and Indonesia, drawing ever closer on matters of security, plan to redevelop World War II-era defence facilities on the small island of Morotai into a joint training base.<\/p>\n

Defence Minister Richard Marles also announced in Jakarta on Thursday that an Indonesian with the rank of colonel would embed with Australian troops from early next year as a deputy commander of 1st Brigade in Darwin.<\/p>\n

\"Australia\u2019sAustralia\u2019s Defence Minister Richard Marles with Indonesia\u2019s Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin after their meeting in Jakarta.AP<\/p>\n

Of Australia\u2019s three infantry brigades, 1st Brigade interacted most closely with the annual rotation of US Marines, he said.<\/p>\n

The initiatives were flagged by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in February when he signed the Treaty on Common Security<\/a> with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, but details were scant.<\/p>\n

The strategically placed island of Morotai is at the northernmost point of Indonesia\u2019s North Maluku province and just south of the Philippines. In World War II, it was captured from the Japanese by Allied forces, including Australians, and used as a base to liberate the Philippines.<\/p>\n

Indonesia\u2019s Defence Minister, Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, said the facilities would also be open to Singapore and the Philippines, the latter of which faces ongoing tensions with China in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n

In a day of announcements, Indonesia and Australia also now plan to expand their joint security cooperation to include Japan and Papua New Guinea, Australia\u2019s new security ally.<\/p>\n

Australia has always sought closer ties with Indonesia. The moves detailed on Thursday, however, highlight Prabowo\u2019s eagerness to cement stronger friendships in the region amid the rise of China and an unpredictable US under the stewardship of Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

The former general is also keen to play a bigger role in global affairs, signing up Indonesia to Trump\u2019s Board of Peace and becoming the first leader to promise troops for any peacekeeping force in war-ravaged Gaza.<\/p>\n

Indonesia also maintains good relations with China, and Prabowo has met several times with President Xi Jinping in Beijing, but it too has friction points with the superpower in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndonesia wouldn\u2019t sign up to [developing a training base with Australia] if it were going to be overtly provocative towards China,\u201d said Dr Natalie Sambhi<\/a>, executive director of Verve Research, an independent think tank.<\/p>\n

\"AustralianAustralian Defence Minister Richard Marles, and Indonesia\u2019s Defence Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin announced their countries are planning to expand their security cooperation.AP<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the location, it makes sense that the Philippines would be able to use it. It\u2019s advantageous for the Indonesian armed forces to work together with the Philippines and Singapore, especially in light of the latter\u2019s professionalism and capability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat said, there are questions worth raising, such as, would Indonesia be allowed to invite China or other partners to use the facility, and to what extent might it impact Indonesian sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marles said the announcements were about focusing on the bilateral relationship \u201con our own terms\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not about any other third country,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is about building the shared capability between Indonesia and Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

In April last year, respected military website Janes caused a flap in Australia with a report that Russia had asked to base warplanes in Indonesia\u2019s<\/a> easternmost province of Papua. Indonesia rejected the story.<\/p>\n

If Russia did make the request, Indonesia appeared to have said no. The country is staunchly non-aligned with military power blocs. Prabowo, however, has been perceived at home as pushing the doctrine\u2019s limits, particularly in relation to the Board of Peace.<\/p>\n

Sjafrie said the Morotai island development opportunity, which would be used for land and sea training, was previously put to Singapore, which declined. A separate training facility with that nation would go ahead in North Kalimantan, he said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Prime<\/a><\/p>\n

Echoing previous statements, Marles said the Australia-Indonesia relationship was at a high watermark, \u201ccharacterised by the deepest of friendships at the highest of levels\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what is different today is \u2026 there is a clear understanding about the strategic value which each of us brings to the other,\u201d Marles said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Australia, we understand that our national security lies in the collective security of the ASEAN region, of South-East Asia \u2013 and of course Indonesia is at the heart of that. And for Indonesia, Australia provides strategic depth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what\u2019s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"ZachZach Hope<\/a> is South-East Asia correspondent. He is a former reporter at the Brisbane Times.Connect via email<\/a>.\"KaruniKaruni Rompies<\/a> is assistant Indonesia correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 12, 2026 \u2014 10:00pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-535582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}