wally1 wrote on Nov 21
st, 2013 at 8:18pm:
I was reading a book a few years ago, I will try to did it up, and it mentions that if Indonesia and Australia did go to military war, the USA would support Indonesia.
Do you think that's a possibility that America could back Indonesia?
Thirty years ago, yes. Nowadays? Who knows?
When Australia and Indonesia were engaged in the West New Guinea dispute and then Konfrontasi, the US definitely needed Indonesia more than it needed Australia. It needed Indonesia for the free passage of its missile carrying submarines from where they were based at Guam, through the Indonesian Archipelago and into the Indian Ocean to allow their relatively short-ranged Polaris SLBMs to reach central and southern Russia. When the longer ranged Poseiden and finally Trident SLBMs were introduced, that need disappeared.
When Australia approached the US Government over whether or not they would support Canberra during the West New Guinea dispute over Indonesia, Washington was ambivalent. This alarmed Canberra so much that it retreated and toned down it's rhetoric towards Jakarta. When Canberra did something similar during Konfrontasi, the Johnson Administration delivered a similar message but the backing of the UK made Canberra sufficiently confident to undertake our commitment of troops to Borneo.
Both these episodes directly led to Australia becoming involved in the Vietnam War, in an effort to bolster it's relationship with Washington.
If the same question was asked today, Washington is less dependent on Indonesia for it's own defence needs but sees Indonesia as very much a bulwark in the South China Sea against possible PRC expansionism. So, again, it might be a case that we are second, rather than first cab off the rank for the USA.
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