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Australian FM defends policy on Asia Pacific

Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has rejected a suggestion that Australia's relations with the Asia Pacific region are more fragile now than they've been for several decades.

The assessment's been made by three international relations experts at the Australian National University - Ross Garnaut, Stuart Harris and Peter Drysdale.

Mr Downer has acknowledged there've been some difficulties when it comes to relations with Indonesia in particular.

However, he stands by the Government's actions involving Indonesia - especially over East Timor's secession ...

We did a completely different thing from the previous Labor governments and now you've got the sort of Labor party cheer squad coming out and criticising the government for not sucking up to Indonesia enough. Well I think we did do the right thing on East Timor and I'm happy to have that debate with those people and I'm happy to have that debate in the forum that really matters, the forum of the Australian public."

7/11/01 17:26:53 | ABC Radio Australia News

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