The British implicitly expressed their interest in selling weapons and other military equipment to Indonesia. The interest was conveyed by the British Minister for Asia Pacific Affairs, Heather Wheeler. Met at the inauguration of the British Mission office for ASEAN at the British Embassy complex in Jakarta on Thursday (1/15/2020), Wheeler initially alluded to military cooperation between Indonesia and Britain. He later said, Britain had a good defense industry and was ready to sell weapons and military equipment to Indonesia.
"We have exchanged with several Indonesian troops, they have come to study and train with us and we are very open to that, as is the case with counter terrorism talks, we think there are many things that can be learned from both sides about it and we want to make sure that there is an open relationship, "he said.
"We have a rapidly growing arms sales business and if there is military equipment that we can sell, that is the right thing and I will sign a sales certificate for that," he continued.
Meanwhile, when asked about the relationship and cooperation between UK and Indonesia after Brexit, Wheeler said that his party had prepared several mechanisms for cooperation. But Wheeler said what is the focus of the UK at the moment is advancing areas in specific areas of expertise, where one way is to establish cooperation between universities in the two countries.
"We have billions of dollars in trade cooperation. We also have good relationships with students who come to our country to study. But what we are trying to advance is to ensure that the area of expertise is good, whether it is a maritime university and we can exchange and has bilateral arrangements with several universities in Indonesia, "he said.
"Very important, Indonesia like us is an island nation and at such times (Brexit), when we have good connections, we can work together very well," Wheeler said.
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