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Arab News
6 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
Britain seeks German help against people smuggling gangs on landmark Merz visit
LONDON: Britain sought a firm commitment Thursday from Germany to change its law to help smash people smuggling gangs, as the two countries agreed to boost defense ties on the first official UK visit by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The trip comes a week after undocumented migrants also topped the political agenda during a state visit to Britain by French President Emmanuel Macron. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Merz signed the first ever 'friendship treaty' between their countries at London's Victoria and Albert Museum before heading for talks at the PM's Downing Street office. Merz said London and Berlin had agreed an exchange program for German and British students. Speaking in German, he said he believed allowing the 'young generation' to get to know each other and their respective countries was a 'good basis for the further development of our relations.' The two leaders were also expected to unveil a deal to jointly produce military goods such as Boxer armored vehicles and Typhoon jets, which could lead to 'billions of pounds of additional defense exports,' Downing Street said. They were to commit to developing a precision strike missile with a range of more than 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) in the next decade. 'Chancellor Merz's commitment to make necessary changes to German law to disrupt the supply lines of the dangerous vessels which carry illegal migrants across the Channel is hugely welcome,' Starmer said ahead of the talks. His office said it was hoped the German legal changes could be made 'this year.' Undocumented migration has become a major headache for Starmer's year-old Labour government, as support for the upstart anti-immigrant Reform UK party soars. More than 22,500 would-be asylum seekers have arrived on England's southeastern coast by small boat from northern France this year alone. The 'friendship treaty' also seeks to improve post-Brexit ties with its neighbors. Macron's trip in early July was the first state visit to the country by a European Union head of state since Brexit — the UK's acrimonious 2020 departure from the bloc. A German government source said 'we shouldn't underestimate' how much relations with the UK had improved since the 'traumatic' experience of Brexit. The friendship deal would be a 'foundation on which we go further to tackle shared problems,' Starmer said. The two leaders were also to discuss continued support for Ukraine, with both countries expected to play a role in US President Donald Trump's plan to send weapons to Kyiv with financing from other NATO countries. The visit is Merz's first to the UK as chancellor, although he has already met Starmer several times, including on a trip by train to Ukraine just days after he took office in early May. The wide-ranging treaty will refer to the turbulent security situation faced by both countries, and include a mutual defense pact. 'There is no strategic threat to one which would not be a strategic threat to the other,' pact says, with a pledge the two countries 'shall assist one another, including by military means, in case of an armed attack.' While Britain and Germany already have a commitment to mutual defense as NATO members, the treaty aims to pave the way for greater defense cooperation, including operations on NATO's eastern flank. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul accompanied Merz, meeting with his British counterpart, David Lammy. On migration, Merz's government is expected to make a commitment to modify German law by the end of the year to criminalize the facilitation of 'illegal migration.' This will include action against storage facilities used by migrant smugglers to conceal small boats intended for Channel crossings. The two countries will also commit to improving train connections. Last month Eurostar said it planned to launch a new route from London to Frankfurt in the early 2030s — the first such direct connection between the UK and Germany.
ABC News
23-06-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Andrew Hastie calls for 'transparency' about US military's growing presence in Australia
Coalition frontbencher Andrew Hastie has called for "greater transparency" about the US military's growing presence in Australia, saying the government needs to explain how it's protecting national sovereignty while deepening defence ties with Washington. The former soldier has also called for the government to explain what role Australia might play backing US combat operations launched from this country, saying it is critical to build public understanding and support for the alliance. The government has consistently brushed off questions over whether the highly sensitive military facilities at Pine Gap or North West Cape provided intelligence to the US for its bombing raids against Iran's nuclear facilities on the weekend. But the Trump administration's decision to strike Iran has stoked fresh debate on the military alliance, particularly as the United States continues to ramp up its presence in the north of Australia. Mr Hastie is a strong supporter of both the alliance and the Iran strikes, but told journalists the government should not shy away from talking more openly about military cooperation with Washington. "When America conducts combat operations, we want to know what our level of involvement will be," he said. Since 2011 the US has maintained a rotational force of marines in Darwin and worked with the government to expand Northern Territory airfields for a growing number of visiting US military aircraft. Australia will also host rotations of US nuclear-powered submarines at HMAS Stirling near Perth from 2027. Mr Hastie said the Trump administration had been explicit that it is building closer ties with allies like Australia and Japan to push back against China, but there had not been enough public debate about exactly what role Australia would play in the event of conflict, or what action US forces here can take. "As our alliance grows and strengthens, we need to know, what freedom of action we have within that alliance," he said. "And we also need to know what limits there are as well. Mr Hastie said the Coalition now supported establishing a parliamentary Joint Defence Committee — despite opposing it in the last term of government — saying the body could "ask hard questions of the defence establishment and consider some of these governing documents that go to the heart of how our alliance operates." "I think it's time that we had a mature, parties of government committee dedicated to defence so that we can have these debates," the shadow home affairs minister said. Greens spokesperson on defence senator David Shoebridge backed the call for more transparency, saying it would expose "Australia's entanglement with the US military". "This will expose our complicity in unjust US wars and push Australians to take a more critical and independent approach to defence and foreign policy," he said. But he rejected the Coalition's call for the Joint Defence Committee — which would exclude Greens and crossbench MPs — declaring: "A committee entirely populated by the AUKUS cheer club will hardly provide us with the transparency the public is asking for." "The last time the Defence Committee was proposed, the major parties wanted a closed shop," he said. Mr Hastie isn't the first public figure to call for Australia to re-examine the way it structures its military alliance with the United States. Former Home Affairs Secretary Mike Pezzullo, who is also a strong supporter of the alliance, recently argued that the defence minister should make a statement to the House of Representatives on the "rationale for [the] US military build-up in Australia". "Such a statement would need to address the following issues. Is there any standing, preauthorised agreement for the US to undertake certain types of combat operations from, or through, Australia?" he wrote in Australian Strategic Policy Institute's The Strategist. "How would our agreement be sought for specific operations? Are we being consulted by the US on its war plans to operate from, or through, Australia? "Would the government have a right of veto, given that we would be a co-belligerent in the event of war? Are there agreed war plans for the joint defence of Australia in the event that we were to be attacked as a result?" While the federal government is entitled to have "full knowledge" and must give "concurrence" to US military activities in Australia, this does not give it the right to approve every action taken. Mr Pezzullo says the current formulation — which has been used by the US and Australia since the Whitlam and Hawke governments — only gives Australia a limited say over US military activities here. He argues that ANZUS should be transformed to a "standing Australia-US war-fighting alliance, with the requisite political-military structures that one would expect to see in such an alliance." "As occurs in NATO, this would allow for policy mechanisms, strategic planning process, command arrangements and operational planning structures to be put in place, where these issues could be addressed and managed under the political leadership of the two governments," he wrote. Last night Mr Pezzullo told the ABC's 730 program that under such an agreement, Australia should have a "decisive" and "active" say on the activities of US forces in Australia. The federal government has not yet commented on Mr Hastie's remarks. Euan Graham from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute told the ABC that Australia was an "oddity among US allies" because "unlike the UK, Germany or Japan, Australia has not had to host US combat forces since WWII". "Now that is changing, as Washington is once again interested in Australia as a strategic reinforcement [and] dispersal location in its priority theatre; not too close to China to be too vulnerable, nor too far away to be relevant," he said. "For the first time since Australia's American alliance was forged, we are once again a Goldilocks basing location." He said while that shift was "fundamentally in Australia's security interest" it was politically difficult for the government to "admit that Australia's defence and security depends increasingly on hosting foreign [US] forces, at least until the ADF acquires more potent, sovereign deterrent capabilities of its own — still a decade off or more." "Not simply to update Canberra's 'full knowledge and concurrence' about the growing US military footprint, but because we are lacking an honest appreciation of our true defence spending requirements."
The Independent
15-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Australian leader visits Indonesia seeking deeper economic and defense ties
Australia's newly reelected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Thursday, in a visit aiming to strengthen his country's economic and defense ties with its closest major neighbor. Albanese arrived in the capital, Jakarta, on Wednesday evening, a day after his new government was sworn in, to promote the importance of building stronger ties with Southeast Asia's largest economy. 'That is … a signal to our region of the importance that we place on this region. We will be in the fastest growing region of the world in human history,' Albanese said in an interview last week with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. He described Subianto as a 'good friend of mine" and hailed the two countries' close relations. Albanese's center-left Labor Party won a second three-year term in an emphatic election victory May 3. He was welcomed by Subianto in a ceremony at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta where he was escorted by dozens of motorized troops and cavalry while about 3,200 schoolchildren waved the flags of both countries along the streets, according to Indonesia's presidential office. The two leaders' talks are expected to 'produce several concrete agreements that could bring direct benefits to the people of both countries," the office said. Albanese's two-day visit is an indication of the countries' strategic closeness. Their discussions will also include food security, energy, trade and other bilateral priorities, Indonesia's Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement. Newly elected Australian prime ministers typically make their first bilateral visit to Asia, usually Indonesia. In his first visit to Indonesia after his inauguration in 2022, Albanese also visited Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province with close ties to Indigenous Australians. Albanese's second visit to Jakarta comes amid global economic upheaval sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump's 'reciprocal tariff' trade policy. Australia was hit during its election campaign with a global-minimum 10% tariff on exports to the U.S. despite trading with its bilateral free trade partner at a deficit for decades, while Indonesia is subject to 32%. The two countries have for the past month negotiated with Washington for a better trade deal. Media reports said last month that Russia told Jakarta it wants to base long-range warplanes in Papua, the most eastern Indonesian province, a plan that was raised as a security issue during the Australian election campaign. Indonesia has told Australia that no such Russian base would be allowed. Given their geographical proximity, Indonesia and Australia have traditionally maintained close ties with each other, including in matters of security and defense, despite the fact that each country has chosen to respond differently to the rivalry between the U.S. and China in the region. The two neighbors last year signed a historic Defense Cooperation Agreement that will allow more complex joint activities and exercises. Canberra hailed the agreement as the 'deepest and most significant' defense deal in the two countries' bilateral ties. Albanese will head on to Rome on Friday morning to attend the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV on Sunday. ___ Associated Press writer Rod McGuirk in Melbourne contributed to this report.
