The rising power of China was a key driver behind Australia’s groundbreaking 1995 security pact with Indonesia, as then prime minister Paul Keating cast aside an outdated fear of Jakarta to put in place a “steel fence across the top of the country”.

James Curran, professor of modern history at Sydney University and a former analyst with the Office of National Assessments, was given exclusive access to archival and policy documents detailing the secret negotiations leading up to the pact.