Berlin Global Advisors Managing Partner Martin Wiesmann analyzes in his guest contribution for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung how Indonesia uses its geostrategic position, its tradition of non-alignment and its leading role in ASEAN to preserve political and economic room for manoeuvre between Washington and Beijing.

Located between the United States and China and along some of the world’s most important trade and energy routes, Indonesia has for decades pursued a clear strategic principle: maintaining close relations in all directions while avoiding firm alignment with any major power.

This approach also shapes Indonesia’s economic strategy. Jakarta is seeking to broaden its industrial base, strengthen domestic value creation and attract international capital and foreign technology investment. At the same time, China’s economic influence is growing, while Indonesia continues to cooperate with the United States as a strategic security partner and seeks to deepen relations with Europe.

Indonesia therefore illustrates a central question of our series: Can strategic openness provide lasting autonomy, or does it simply create a more complex web of new dependencies?

The full FAZ guest contribution by Martin Wiesmann can be found here: Indonesia: Middle Power Between the USA and China | FAZ

Source: Gregory A. Harden II / U.S. Navy (CC BY 2.0)