Australia's trade minister said Tuesday he is concerned about that threat. These exports are worth several billion U-S dollars a year to Australia. He says a number of Australian business people have left Indonesia,returned to Sydney, waiting for the backlash to subside. The unfortunate thing is that Australia tends to be a little bit aggressive and Indonesia tends to be a little oversensitive. I do not think there has been a more significant issue than East Timor in the history of the Australia-Indonesian relationship.
Indonesian firms have yet to cancel a single contract with Australian companies.
But a trade battle could heat up. In the last few weeks Australian trade unions have imposed bans on two-way trade to protest the violence in East Timor.