Indonesia, ASEAN Centrality and Global Maritime Fulcrum

Abstract

Why Indonesia remains committed to maintain centrality of ASEAN in its Indo-Pacific strategy as a way to deter conflicts, especially in light of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s famous proclamation of “Global Maritime Fulcrum?” The main thrust of “Global Maritime Fulcrum” doctrine is that facing shifting geopolitical and economic power from the West to Asia, Indoneia needed to face the challenge by putting Indonesia’s interest back to the forefront of global political and economic discourse. Yet, by the end of the day, Indonesia remained committed in pushing for the centrality of ASEAN especially in dealing with potential conflicts in the Indo-Pacific region. By stressing the centrality of ASEAN, meaning that Indonesia is attempting to strengthen cooperation between the members of ASEAN and crafting a cooperative regional framework, Indonesia and ASEAN as a whole may be able to reduce the tension due to the clashing interest of the United States and China in Indo-Pacific region.

Sino-Us Strategic Competition in the Indo-Pacific: Exploring Responses From Malaysia and Indonesia

“…Indonesia's reliance on ASEAN due to its limited political power presents an opportunity to fortify ASEAN's centrality and achieve foreign policy objectives in the Indo-Pacific without aligning exclusively with any single nation. This aligns with Indonesia's domestic agenda, aiming to become a robust maritime nation (Ekaputra, 2021;Auliya and Sulaiman, 2019;Milner, 2019).…”

“…It is worth noting that 14 out of the 32 studies reviewed have used a theoretical or conceptual framework for analysing Indonesia's policy and strategic outlook in the Indo-Pacific discourse. For example, liberal institutionalism was used by Auliya and Sulaiman (2019) to examine the significance of Indonesia's role in the context of its membership within the regional institution of ASEAN. Different studies have pointed out Indonesia's strategic outlook towards the China-US competition and the country's role as a regional middle power.…”

Approaches in the Indonesian Maritime identity Construction

“…He voiced Indonesia's rightful aspirations as a seagoing Indo-Pacific power that plays role as an archipelagic country connecting two oceans (Bandoro 2014). Further, Indonesia advocated the adoption of the ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific (AOIP) that emphasized on maintaining the centrality of ASEAN (Auliya and Sulaiman 2019).…”

Las Estrategias de Indonesia frente al Ascenso de China

“…De esta manera busca hacer del Tratado de Amistad y Cooperación de la ASEAN y la participación en la Cumbre del Asia Oriental los aspectos fundamentales de un orden de facto del Indo-Pacífico, en donde participa China en tanto uno de los socios de diálogo de la ASEAN (Scott 2019). De ahí que Indonesia, más allá de sus capacidades reales, se apoya en la ASEAN para fortalecer su posición relativa frente a la de las grandes potencias, ampliando sus márgenes de maniobra internacionales o reduce normativamente la de las grandes potencias, contribuyendo positivamente a la aplicación de normas sobre cuestiones marítimas y mejorando la cooperación en defensa naval y seguridad marítima (Auliya y Sulaiman 2019;Sriyanto 2018;Wright 2015). Así la ASEAN sirve de plataforma para que Indonesia realice su visión marítima de PMG en el Indo-Pacífico.…”

“…Indonesia presidió este foro durante los años 2015-2017, coincidiendo este último año con el 20avo aniversario de la creación del mismo. Al respecto, en marzo de ese año organizó en Jakarta la primera Cumbre de la IORA para conmemorar este acontecimiento, y además propuso la firma de Carta de la IORA, también denominada la Carta de Jakarta, como contribución al foro (Aufiya 2017;Auliya y Sulaiman 2019;Scott 2019).…”