Indonesia's relation with China and the US from Yudhoyono to Jokowi

• Main Author: Seetoh, Wei-Min
• Other Authors: Ang Cheng Guan
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities::General
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/76101
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Jokowi's election as Indonesia's president in 2014 heralded an immediate shift in foreign policy outlook from Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's liberal internationalist posture to a narrower, nationalistic perspective focused overwhelmingly on domestic priorities. This paper argues that this foreign policy transition has seen a shift in how Indonesia approaches its relations with the two big powers, China and the US, and by extension a shift in how Indonesia's "independent and active" foreign policy principle is actually implemented. The paper examines the differences in approach to managing the big powers adopted by the Yudhoyono and Jokowi administrations, and offers an assessment of the reasons behind these differences. I argue that under Yudhoyono, Indonesia's acute threat perception of China, growing bilateral cooperation with the US, the convergence between Indonesian and American strategic interests and, not least, Yudhoyono's personal pro-US disposition led to an Indonesian tilt towards the US. Jokowi, a foreign policy novice, began his term pursuing a narrowly focused, insular foreign policy aimed at attracting economic benefits for Indonesia, particularly from China. But I suggest that as Jokowi became increasingly cognisant of the challenges and risks posed by Indonesia's strategic landscape, he modulated his foreign policy towards the big powers and increased Indonesia's security engagement with the US as part of efforts to manage China's assertiveness. While Indonesian leaders shape the country's foreign policy to a great degree, then, Indonesia's foreign policy establishment remains constrained by the imperatives imposed by regional dynamics and Indonesia's strategic vulnerabilities.