US plans to build military training facility in Australia
Australia and the US have moved closer to an agreement on basing a major US military training facility in northern Australia.
Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill said he discussed the project with his US counterpart, Donald Rumsfeld, during a security conference in Singapore over the weekend and an agreement could be signed as early as next month.
'It's to enhance mutual capability, ensure inter-operability and to assist a critically important ally,' Hill said on ABC Radio. Hill said an agreement in principle on setting up the training facility could be reached at annual bilateral defense talks to be held in Washington next month.
[[A major enhancement of the US military presence in Australia could upset neighbour states like Indonesia, which has in the past bristled at suggestions Australia serves as Washington's "deputy sheriff" in the region.
About half the world's oil supplies move through the Indonesia region on the way to markets in Japan, China and South Korea, making it a tempting target for Islamic militants seeking to destabilize the industrialized world.]]
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