The Australian government’s 2020 defence strategic update provides opportunities to strengthen our role in the Indo-Pacific and elevates the importance of our relationships with regional nations. Navigating the shifting strategic landscape in the region will …
As the world contends with Covid-19, Indonesia and Australia have an opportunity to establish deeper ties and cooperation on matters of mutual concern. The secondary states of Asia—Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea—have become exemplars for …
President Joko (Jokowi) Widodo’s inclusion of defeated presidential rival and Greater Indonesia Party (Gerindra) leader Prabowo Subianto in his cabinet appears to validate analysis pointing to a more authoritarian turn in Indonesia and the resurgence …
A ramming incident on 27 April involving a Vietnamese fisheries surveillance vessel and an Indonesian naval vessel near Indonesia’s Natuna Islands highlights the risks of escalation in competition over fisheries in the South China Sea. …
With headlines dominated by Canberra’s policy ‘step-up’ in the Pacific in response to China’s rapidly expanding influence in the region, it seems puzzling that the Morrison government would risk disrupting relations with two of its …
Much of the speculation about the implications of a Trump presidency for Asia suggest at least some degree of US retrenchment from the region. Former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans captured that pervasive sense of …
Next month, Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo will visit Washington—one of several trips he’s made this year including to Beijing and Tokyo. With major powers in the Indo-Pacific seeking enhanced bilateral ties with Indonesia, Jakarta’s attention …
Joko Widodo was elected on the policy platform of defending Indonesia’s political sovereignty and territorial integrity, with a good dose of economic nationalism thrown in. That policy platform now manifests itself in a range of …
Many Australian observers of Indonesian politics may have assumed that the election of Joko Widodo as Indonesia’s seventh president would augur well for the bilateral relationship. After all, the former municipal governor came not from …
Prior to President Joko Widodo’s inauguration, one of his principal advisers lamented Indonesia’s weak state mentality. In a critique of Indonesia’s defence posture, which he characterised as ‘too passive’, he quipped to seminar participants that …