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David Cameron calls for UK arms sales to Indonesia
11 April 2012 David Cameron who met business leaders in Tokyo has defended his decision to capitalise on Japan's arms procurement rules. Photograph Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
David Cameron will today attempt to boost British defence sales in Indonesia more than 10 years after the Labour government imposed an embargo amid allegations that British-built Hawk aircraft were used to bomb civilians in East Timor.
The prime minister, who will fly into Jakarta with some of Britain's leading defence manufacturers, said it was time to sell some of the "best defence equipment in the world" to an important democracy. Cameron is on a five-day trip to Asia, which will culminate in a historic visit to Burma on Friday, to try to boost Britain's economic ties with the world's fastest growing region.
On his first day in Japan on Tuesday Cameron mounted a strong defence of his decision to exploit a liberalisation of Tokyo's defence procurement rules. Executives from six defence companies, including BAE Systems and AgustaWestland, are accompanying the prime minister on his tour of Asia. "It is absolutely right that a British prime minister takes defence companies with him on a trade mission like this," he said in Tokyo.
As he prepared to fly to Jakarta, he said Britain should now be free to sell arms to Indonesia which he described as one of the world's great democracies. "Britain makes some of the best defence equipment in the world and it is right that it is available to Indonesia, under the very same criteria that we apply to all our partners around the world," he said in an interview with Jakarta's Kompas newspaper. "That is why some of our leading defence companies are with me on this visit."
There were reports last year that Britain was involved in negotiations with Indonesia to sell 24 Eurofighter Typhoons in a £2bn deal. Britain denied there were specific discussions, though ministers said they were keen to explore defence projects with Indonesia.
The Labour government banned the export of fighter jets to Indonesia in 1999 after reports that Jakarta had used BAE-built Hawk aircraft to bomb civilians in East Timor. In the same year Indonesia relinquished its control of East Timor which became a sovereign state in 2002.
But Human Rights Watch has been highly critical of Indonesia's human rights record in recent years. On the eve of a visit to Jakarta by President Barack Obama last year, the group criticised Indonesia for a lack of accountability of security forces for "continuing abuses, including extrajudicial killings and torture in Papua and other areas".
Cameron will meet Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was elected president of Indonesia in 2004 in the first direct elections after the fall of Suharto in 1998. Britain believes that Yudhoyono has been instrumental in underpinning democracy in the world's largest Muslim nation of 245 million people. In his interview with Kompas, Cameron said: "Indonesia has transformed itself in the past decade into one of the world's most important democracies, with a free media and elections. The military no longer plays a role in politics, but fulfils its proper role defending the country from external attack."
He added: "In Britain we now have what is one of the most rigorous and careful arms licensing systems in the world, to ensure that arms do not fall into the hands of those who might misuse them. But at the same time we believe that democratic and responsible countries like Indonesia have a right to defend themselves, and to buy the equipment needed to do so."
Cameron wants to widen Britain's economic links with Indonesia which is due to become the sixth or seventh largest economic power in the world, and he believes that his visit provides an invaluable platform to reach out to Muslims in the country and beyond.
The prime minister's remarks to Kompas contrasted with comments in Tokyo where he played down Britain's defence interests in Indonesia. "Indonesia is much more broadly based on trade. We have 0.07% of Indonesia's market. The [UK] defence businesses – some of them will still be on the trip [to Indonesia]. But it is a much more broad-based economic relationship that we are looking for."
In Tokyo, Cameron visited Nissan's Yokohama headquarters where the carmaker announced a £127m investment in its Sunderland plant to produce its new hatchback. The main focus of his talks with Yoshihiko Noda, his Japanese counterpart, focused on defence and on helping Japan with nuclear decommissioning. Japan has named Britain as its first overseas defence trading partner after the US after a recent relaxation of its procurement rules.
The prime minister was accompanied to Japan by Professor Sir John Beddington, the government's chief scientific adviser, who said the British embassy in Tokyo should remain open last year after the Fukushima nuclear disaster which followed the tsunami. Beddington is regarded as something of a hero in Japan.
Cameron said: "Britain very much stood with Japan at that difficult moment in terms of Fukushima. Now we are working with the Japanese to try and help with the nuclear clear-up and the steps that need to be taken around Fukushima. We think there are important opportunities there for British expertise to come into play. We also want to see good co-operation in the nuclear industry between Britain and Japan in the future."
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发表于 24-12-2012 09:42 PM
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David Cameron who met business leaders in Tokyo has defended his decision to capitalise on Japan's arms procurement rules. Photograph Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
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