Refugee standoff heightens Australian-Indonesian tensions - World Socialist Web Site
▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/11/12/refu-n12.html
A group of 60 asylum seekers aboard a broken-down wooden boat were subjected to a two-day standoff in treacherous seas between Australia and Indonesia before being transported to Australia’s Christmas Island detention centre last Saturday.
The ordeal for the refugees from Afghanistan and Pakistan, which occurred because the Australian government demanded that they be sent back to Indonesia, highlighted the deteriorating relations between the two countries. These tensions are not just over the Australia’s criminal policy of “turning back” refugee boats to Indonesia, but Australia’s involvement in the US military build-up in the Indo-Pacific region, exacerbated by the recent revelations of US and Australian spying on Indonesia.