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Indonesia Papua New Guinea
Since Papua New Guinea's independence in 1975, the 760-
kilometer-long border between it and Indonesia's Irian
Jaya
Province was a focus for mutual suspicion. Indonesia
sought
through diplomacy and intimidation to prevent Papua New
Guinea
from becoming a cross-border sanctuary for OPM
separatists. Port
Moresby's policy on the border situation was conditioned
by fears
of Indonesian expansionism and sympathy for West Papuan
efforts
to defend their cultural identity against
Indonesianization. The
Papua New Guinea government was also keenly aware of the
military
imbalance between the two countries.
Talks to draw up a new agreement to regulate relations
and
define rights and obligations along the border culminated
in the
signing on October 27, 1986, of the Treaty of Mutual
Respect,
Cooperation, and Friendship. The treaty was, in effect, a
bilateral nonaggression pact in which the two sides agreed
to
"avoid, reduce and contain disputes or conflicts between
their
nations and settle any differences that may arise only by
peaceful means" (Article 2), and promised that they "shall
not
threaten or use force against each other" (Article 7). The
treaty
also provided a basis for building a lasting structure of
peace
and cooperation. The structure for peace was enhanced by
the 1987
ASEAN decision to allow Papua New Guinea to become the
first nonASEAN country to accede to the 1976 ASEAN Treaty of Amity
and
Cooperation in Southeast Asia. Indonesia continued in
1992,
however, to block Papua New Guinea's access to full ASEAN
membership although Papua New Guinea did have observer
status.
The 1986 treaty left many issues unresolved. It did not
solve, for example, the problem of Irian Jaya refugees in
Papua
New Guinea. Furthermore, Papua New Guinea did not agree to
joint
security operations in the border regions, and Indonesia
did not
give categorical assurance that its military, in all
circumstances, would not cross the border. Criticism of
Jakarta's
policies in Irian Jaya persisted in Port Moresby. In
addition,
Indonesia was accused of covert intervention in Papua New
Guinea
domestic politics. Nevertheless, the tension and
threat-filled
atmosphere that clouded the first decade of bilateral
relations
was considerably dissipated. A new ten-year border
agreement was
signed in 1990. In January 1992, in the course of a state
visit
by Papua New Guinea prime minister Rabbie Namaliu, the
defense
ministers of the two countries signed a "status of forces"
agreement regulating rights and obligations when on each
other's
territory. Although the two parties denied that the
agreement
provided for joint security operations, the possibility of
rights
for Indonesian "hot pursuit" seemed to exist. At that
time,
Namaliu, reviewing the course of relations since the 1986
treaty,
said, "ties have never been better."
Data as of November 1992
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