10 September 1999
Subject: East Timor; Humanitarian Aid, President Clinton, APEC meeting, military ties with Indonesia; economic sanctions
E&OE……………………………………………………………………………………….
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. I have a couple of specific announcements to make. The first of those is that I’ll be making available a news release at the conclusion of the press conference. But the Government is announcing this afternoon the provision of humanitarian aid of $3 million to be provided through the United Nations’ agencies including the UN High Commissioner for refugees, World Food Program, and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
To assist with displaced people in both East and West Timor, and this will provide for activities such as the purchase, propositioning in Darwin and transport of emergency relief supplies, blankets, plastic sheeting for emergency shelter, health and kitchen kits, mosquito nets and buckets. Food and water supplies will also be purchased. I should emphasise that this contribution is an initial response only, and the Australian Government stands ready to provide further humanitarian assistance as soon as the security position permits and we obtain a better picture of the needs of people throughout Timor.
I discussed the provision of this aid, which we had decided upon this morning, when I spoke to the Secretary-General of the United Nations just before lunch, to exchange views and to obtain and update on his discussions with Dr Habibie and others concerning the situation in East Timor. The situation on the ground according to our information, although still very difficult and quite unsatisfactory, has remained in a state of slightly greater stabilisation as I described yesterday. It’s my understanding that several RAAF transports have evacuated several hundred people from East Timor today and those people are now in Darwin. Those people include locally engaged staff employed by UNAMET and that is a very welcome development because there had been concern about the future and the safety and the security of any locally engaged staff as the UNAMET operation in Dili wound down to a smaller number.
As already known the UNAMET operation will continue and there is some confidence that it will be able to continue albeit at a lower level than previously, but perhaps a little higher than the number of 40 to which it was thought it would be reduced yesterday.
I think you are all aware of the statement made by President Clinton which put additional pressure on the Indonesian Government to improve the situation in East Timor, or in default of that, acquiesce in the introduction of a peacekeeping force into the territory. I will have discussions with President Clinton at the APEC meeting in Auckland to which I will leave later on this afternoon. And that will be an ideal chance to again draw to his attention the concerns I have and the concerns the Australian Government have about the situation. But I do welcome the statements that he made about the ongoing concern of the United States Government and the obligations of the Indonesian Government to bring the situation in East Timor under control.
I remain optimistic that if a peacekeeping force is introduced into East Timor that will be a broadly based peacekeeping force and it will include the range and type of nations which we think are necessary to accompany Australia in the peacekeeping operation. I would not want any of the remarks I’ve made about greater stabilisation to suggest that we are in any way satisfied with the situation in East Timor. But it is fair to say that the evidence that’s come out of Dili over the past 24 hours indicates that there is a greater degree of stability than was previously the case.
You’ll be aware of the announcement made by the Defence Minister regarding a review of defence cooperation between Australia and Indonesia. This matter was discussed by me with Kofi Annan in our conversation earlier today. He specifically asked that nothing be done to in any way reduce or undermine or prejudice the capacity of ADF personnel to assist the UNAMET operation in Dili. And it is important for those who are calling in a random scattergun fashion for the breaking of all military ties and associations between Australia and Indonesia to understand that the placement of people on – ADF personnel and the operation of ADF personnel on Indonesian territory is in part a consequence of the arrangements that have existed between our two countries hitherto. Clearly the strained relations between Australia and Indonesia necessitate that certain operations be terminated and others be put under review in terms outlined by the Defence Minister. But I emphasise that we would be absolutely loathe to do anything that would jeopardise the UNAMET mission. It is the focal point, it’s the epicentre of the world presence in Dili. And in discussions on this issue this morning the Secretary-General emphasised that it was essential for Australia to continue its assistance to the UNAMET mission. And anything that is done in terms of the potential impact on ADF personnel that undermines that mission would be a huge mistake and absolutely counterproductive to the cause of providing assistance and relief to the people of East Timor.
Do you have any questions?
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, how satisfied are you with the United States’ response so far?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it’s stronger than it was a couple of days ago. We’d like a commitment of ground forces obviously. But, let me say this, that the President spoke at length and very strongly and it’s obviously gratifying to me and the Government that they are now talking in more positive terms. Clearly there will be some assistance, whether it involves the provision of boots on the ground, as the saying goes, we’ll wait and see. I’ll be talking again to the President in Auckland and we’ll continue to put our view.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible] asking to put boots on the ground?
PRIME MINISTER:
You can rest assured I will press the President very strongly, as I have already, for a strong, effective, including that contribution by the United States. But, in the end, that is a matter for them to decide and I don’t think there’s anything gained by my going over it again. We’ve stated our position. They are well aware of our feeling and they’re well aware of the feeling of the Australian people.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, do you think that greater stability might mean that the United States might be more reluctant to get involved?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I don’t believe so. The evidence I have is quite the contrary, that the Americans are applying a great deal of behind the scenes pressure on the Indonesians. And they’ll continue to do so and that is to be welcomed.
JOURNALIST:
Is a peacekeeping force impossible without US troops?
PRIME MINISTER:
It’s overwhelmingly desirable that there be an American involvement.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, the Australian Democrats want the Cox Transmitter near Darwin re-opened so that Radio Australia can broadcast beyond East Timor into Indonesia as well, do you think there’s a case for doing that on a needs based [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I haven’t had the suggestion put to me before now. I’ll look at what’s been said.
JOURNALIST:
Are you satisfied with Radio Australia’s service as…
PRIME MINISTER:
I’ll have a look at what’s been said.
JOURNALIST:
The $3 million in aid, how will that actually be [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we’re going to do it through the UN agencies and I discussed that with the Secretary-General this morning and I emphasise it’s a down payment, it’s certainly not, by any means, the final amount but we stand ready to provide more. We’ll talk to the various international volunteer agencies. We’ll talk to the United Nations’ agencies. But we think, given the refugee problem, that some humanitarian aid is a necessary part of the Australian response. The Secretary-General welcomed the Australian Government’s commitment. He said he would like its dispersal discussed with the various agencies and we’ll do that and we’ll disperse it in the most effective way possible and as quickly as possible.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, are you considering imposing economic sanctions at all?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, everything is on the table and I don’t want anybody to mistake that. Everything is on the table. As I said yesterday, it’s not necessarily and it should not be a government objective to impoverish the already very poor people of Indonesia and it’s not in anybody’s interests to have a broken, battered, wrecked Indonesian economy. It’s a question of using all of the instruments that are available to you at the right time to have the maximum amount of impact.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, there’s been a call locally, from local government level, for example, for a boycott of Indonesian goods here among Australian consumers, do you support that call?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, what people do themselves is a matter for them. I don’t see any point in the Prime Minister calling for generalised boycotts. People can make their own decisions. You’ve got to understand that there are a lot of goods in Australia that have been manufactured in Indonesia. There are a lot of textiles. There are a lot of garments that people wear, a lot of clothing people wear that have been made in Indonesia. And look, can I just make the point, our argument is not with the ordinary people of Indonesia. In the long-run we want to be friends with the ordinary people of Indonesia and in the short-run we do too. That is not our argument. And some of these scattergun, knee-jerk responses overlook that very important ingredient. There are a lot of people in Indonesia that are not happy with what is occurring in East Timor. And when you lurch into these sorts of areas you are punishing those people, in many cases more severely, than you are punishing others.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
I’m sorry I can’t hear you.
JOURNALIST:
… APEC leaders’ meeting?
PRIME MINISTER:
It will be heavily discussed in the margins. It will be a heavy topic of bilateral discussion. The normal operation of APEC does not involve the discussion of day to day political subjects, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it came up. But what I’ll be doing is in the bilateral discussions I’m having raising it. So the thing will certainly I think end up being about the most extensively talked about thing at the whole gathering.
JOURNALIST:
…Inaudible…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it is just not the sort of body where you’ll end up … you won’t get a united resolution out of APEC on something like this because many of its leaders will take the view that it is not something that is directly related to APEC. I mean, some of the states that go to APEC such as South American countries, Russia goes to APEC. I don’t think they would regard that as something that is directly on the APEC agenda, and you’ve got to be sensible. It’s no good raising something like this in a formal way and then if there is no resolution of it, people get the mistaken impression that nobody’s interested.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, the Opposition says Australia should withdraw its recognition of Indonesia’s sovereignty over East Timor. Do you agree?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, can I say, frankly, it is a bit late for that. I mean, there’s been an acceptance in relation to sovereignty now for more than 20 years. I think that is an empty futile call. It means nothing. And the reason it means nothing more than what I’ve just said is that in two months’ time, according to the agreement made, Timor will be an independent country, so what the Labor Party is saying is that you should withdraw De Jure recognition for the remaining two months of Indonesian sovereignty over East Timor. It is not going to make any difference. Now, I appreciate the fact that in relation to the broad Australian Government response the Labor Party has been supportive. I think this sort of tabulation of the micro-peripheral list of things is a bit empty and I don’t think it adds very much to a debate on an important national issue.
JOURNALIST:
… independent country?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, that is the agreement and everything that is directed towards what we’re trying to achieve is to keep Indonesia to that agreement and I would think that the pressure that Indonesia would face if it were to turn its back on the ballot would be infinitely greater than the pressure that it now faces and that is gathering by the day, by the hour, and very great indeed. Two more questions.
JOURNALIST:
Do you believe that the response of your Government has been in line with community feeling or do you think that Australian public wants you to be doing more?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that’s a matter for commentators. I mean, look, the response of the Australian government has been the right response. It has been strong, and that has been recognised very explicitly by President Clinton. It’s been relevant and it has been sustained and it has been graduated and there will be more things that the Australian Government can do as circumstances require. I don’t sit and measure whether from day to day it is everything the public wants or .. I mean, it is the responsibility of the Government in a situation like this is to have an objective, to annunciate that objective and to drive towards it in the most appropriate way. And that is what we have done. Our objective is to end the violence in East Timor, by the Indonesians, or if they can’t or they won’t, they should stand aside and let somebody else do it. And we are mobilising as much international pressure as we can to achieve that end, and we have mobilised a great deal of international pressure. We’ve been prepared to match our rhetoric with our commitment of resources and forces in the event that there is a peacekeeping operation. Now, whether it exactly matches the community response is a matter for others to make a judgement on. I decline to do so.
JOURNALIST:
With the situation as you say, is stabilising, do you think Jakarta is likely to invite in a peacekeeping force?
PRIME MINISTER:
I said that there are, I’m not saying it is stabilising. I said the appearance of greater stability that I mentioned yesterday remains. I think one has got to be very careful. I don’t want anybody to misinterpret my words. I just think it is less bad, it is less negative than it has been in the past.
JOURNALIST:
… less negative, do you think Jakarta is likely at all to invite any peacekeeping force in?
PRIME MINISTER:
It remains, as I annunciated in response to the previous question, our objective to have the violence stopped, we are not satisfied that is the case, we are not satisfied in relation to that by any stretch of the imagination. All I’m saying is that there are some signs of greater stability. I’m not saying that the situation is acceptable or normal. I’m not saying the violence has stopped, what I am saying is it remains our objective to put enough pressure on Indonesia for it to stop and in default of that if they can’t or won’t then they should be pressured into allowing others in who will do that job.
Thank you.