JAKARTA/BERLIN (Own report) – The German government is seeking to enhance Germany’s military presence in Southeast Asia and is launching joint exercises with Indonesia. Currently, German military are observing the Super Garuda Shield exercise, being carried out by Indonesia and the United States. It also includes soldiers from Japan, France and Great Britain. On their planned Asia- Pacific tour next year, a German naval frigate and supply vessel will exercise with Indonesian war ships. In that region, the German Bundeswehr, over the last two years, is mainly focused on participating in large-scale maneuvers in Australia, while making minor detours to Japan and South Korea. Germany has made initial attempts to also get a foothold in Southeast Asia through military cooperation with Singapore. The USA and Germany are jointly seeking to pit the Southeast Asian states against China. Indonesia is not willing to take this path. Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto recently announced in Washington that he will soon visit Moscow and Beijing: We want to befriend all countries. Read more

BERLIN/BRUSSELS/JAKARTA (Own report) - The EU should significantly extend its foreign and military policy activities in the Asia Pacific region, EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Josep Borrell demanded on his return from a visit of several days to Indonesia. In Jakarta, Borrell discussed prospects for intensifying cooperation with the country and with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and announced: "We are exploring options to enhance EU’s maritime presence in the vast Indo-Pacific space." This is necessary because, through China's rise, the world's center of gravity is increasingly shifting away from the Atlantic to the Pacific. ”The history of mankind of the 21st century will be written in the Indo-Pacific area.” Just a few days earlier, German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer became the first member of a German government to ever visit the Pacific Island of Guam, where the German frigate Bayern will dock during its Asia tour in the fall. Guam hosts major US military bases and is seen as a possible battlefield in a war between the USA and China. Read more

BERLIN/JAKARTA/WASHINGTON (Own report) - New documents confirm the West German authorities' close cooperation with Indonesia's military during the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of Indonesian communists. In October 1965, generals seized power in Jakarta to halt President Sukarno's left-wing agenda. In the months that followed, they organized the slaughter of at least 500,000, possibly up to three million - de facto or suspected - members of the Communist Party. At that time, West German authorities maintained close contact with members of Indonesia's military and intelligence service. Even though they were well informed on the developments, they supported the military with equipment and finances. Previously classified documents of the West German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) reveal that the Indonesian generals needed the resources particularly for "special operations against Communist Party functionaries." Karl Carstens, State Secretary in the Foreign Ministry, at the time, was most likely involved in transacting the support. The West German government in Bonn had thus contributed to the Southeast Asian "conflict of systems" at the time. Read more