TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsIndonesia’s ‘polygamous’ game in dealing with China and the US
Indonesia, like many other ASEAN members, knows doing business with the world’s second-largest economy China is more profitable than with the US, but at the same time, it feels more comfortable with the presence of the US in the Indo-Pacific region.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Salute: Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen. Andika Perkasa (left) and Commanding General of the US Army Pacific Gen. Charles Flynn open the Super Garuda Shield 2022 exercise in Baturaja, South Sumatra, on Aug. 3. (Antara/US Army)
A
foreign friend jokingly suggested Indonesia’s foreign policymakers learn from the survival tactics of a man who has two wives, both of them are equally overjealous, rich and generous. The supposedly lucky man only needs to preserve his stamina to deal with his two ladies.
“The polygamous man can teach your government how to deal with the United States and China. Hopefully, you can pass the tight rope safely, or else you will end up in their bellies,” said the veteran diplomat.
It was just a joke, but Indonesia, as well as many other countries in the world, should not belittle the advice. In real life, they have to deal with China and the US and they cannot disregard either of them. In Indonesia’s case, it will never form a military alliance with either country, but it also realizes it is more difficult now to maintain its “free and active” foreign policy amid mounting pressure from the two giants.
Indonesia, like many other ASEAN members, knows doing business with the world’s second-largest economy China is more profitable than with the US, but at the same time, feels more comfortable with the presence of the US in the Indo-Pacific region. For some, China is a pleasant and trustworthy neighbor, but some others deem China as scary.
Washington is ready to provide ASEAN countries security insurance but certainly there is no such thing as a free lunch. But today the US is not so mighty as it was two decades ago, and China may soon replace the US as the world’s strongest country, both economically and militarily. ASEAN members need more alliances to counterbalance China without provoking its anger.
Indonesia and the US armed forces are now conducting perhaps the largest joint military exercise, taking place in Sumatra and Kalimantan with the attendance of military personnel from Singapore, Japan and Australia and a number of other countries as observers.
Last year, China reportedly protested the Garuda Shield Indonesia-US war exercise, saying it was disturbing the regional security stability. This time around, there is no objection from China, apparently because it is still preoccupied with the Taiwan issue.
