Indonesia is playing politics by implying the country's relationship with Australia has been damaged by spying allegations, a leading security academic says.
Australian National University Professor Michael Wesley says Indonesia has plenty to lose from a breakdown in diplomatic relations with its southern neighbour and news of an intelligence-gathering operation being run out of Australia's embassy in Jakarta is unlikely to impact ties.
"When they say they'll review collaboration with both Australia and the United States, there's not a lot the Indonesians can do," Prof Wesley told Sky News on Tuesday.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said the spying revelations had a "potentially damaging impact" on diplomatic ties but Prof Wesley played down the threat.
"Marty Natalegawa is a very experienced, seasoned diplomat, he knows there's a new government in Canberra, there's an inexperienced prime minister and an inexperienced foreign minister and they're just softening us up," he said.
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Reports that Australia has been conducting surveillance in Indonesia would have come as no surprise, Prof Wesley said, adding that all countries spy on each other.
"I would say that the Indonesian embassy is collecting intelligence here in Canberra," he said.
He said the Indonesian government's response to revelations of intelligence gathering was partly to appease a community outcry.
"Fifty per cent is about placating domestic critics and domestic outrage and another 50 per cent is playing diplomacy," Prof Wesley said.
Indonesia will join Germany and Brazil in co-sponsoring a resolution in the General Assembly of the United Nations to address allegations of US-led data snooping, revealed in leaked National Security Agency documents which implicated America and some European allies.
Professor Wesley said the Australian government had effectively managed the revelations.
"They've done exactly as they should do: neither confirm nor deny it, don't change your policy, and just wait for the storm to die down," he said.
Cyber activists have vented their fury with the group Anonymous Indonesia claiming to have defaced more than 170 Australian websites in protest at reports of Canberra's alleged spying activities.
