THE GUARDIAN
02/17/2014
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Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa |
“I find that a bit mind-boggling and a bit difficult how I can connect or reconcile discussion about shrimps and how it impacts on Australia’s security,” Natalegawa told reporters, referring to claims made in a weekend report by the New York Times.
The report said Australia offered intelligence to the US National Security Agency (NSA) to give Washington leverage during a trade dispute with Jakarta.
Natalegawa’s comments came during a joint press conference with US secretary of state John Kerry, who responded to questions about the report, saying: “We take this issue very seriously, which is why President Obama laid down a series of concrete and substantial reforms.”
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President Yudhoyono bitten again by ASIS/NSA spying |
Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has defended his government’s use of intelligence material, but refused to confirm the allegations made in the New York Times.
However, Abbott said that Australia did not “use anything that we gather as part of our ordinary security and intelligence operations to the detriment of other countries”.
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From Bali to Jakarta; Kerry can't keep his lies straight |
“We use it to protect our citizens and the citizens of other countries, and we certainly don’t use it for commercial purposes.”
Jakarta has responded furiously to previous reports of Canberra’s spying that led to a breakdown in bilateral ties, and tensions are simmering over a hardline Australian military operation to turn people-smuggling boats back to Indonesia.