However relaxed and comfortable Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto might be about Australia’s plans to acquire nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs), the visit to Jakarta of French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has probably validated the very different view of Le Drian’s counterpart, Retno Marsudi. And whatever Le Drian may have intended to achieve on this theme in Jakarta, he may well have compounded the Australian government’s problems with Indonesia over this central plank of the AUKUS agreement while stoking Jakarta’s suspicions of Canberra’s trustworthiness.
Australia needs an entente cordiale with Indonesia over nuclear propulsion and non-proliferation (David Engel, The Strategist)
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