In 2018, the Australia–Indonesia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership recognised a ‘proximity advantage’ between eastern Indonesia and northern Australia offering ripe opportunities for development, growth and cooperation. Yet, despite the Australian government’s reported enthusiasm over decades to …
The 2021 ‘State of Southeast Asia’ survey report by Singapore-based think tank ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute reveals some hard realities about Indonesians’ attitudes towards Australia. The survey exposes the limited impact of Australia’s soft-power …
At first glance, given their geographic distance, there seems little pushing France and Indonesia closer together. But from Paris’s perspective, the French territories in the region and the fact that 93% of France’s exclusive economic …
If the premises about Australian soft power in Indonesia treated in the first two parts of this series don’t jar, nor should the premise of this final one. It’s that we have little reason to …
In an earlier Strategist post, I touched on Australia’s aid and soft power—an aspiration too often unfulfilled for all the rhetoric to the contrary. Australia’s efforts on soft power in Indonesia generally fit in the …