ID | 176616 |
Title Proper | Indonesia |
Other Title Information | lessons for the US-China feo-economic competition |
Language | ENG |
Author | Richardson, Kyle |
Summary / Abstract (Note) | Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous nation (273 million people) and abuts the globe’s busiest trade route (the Straits of Malacca); as such, Indonesia is on track to become the world’s fourth-largest economy by 2050.1 Indonesia will be a major venue for US–China geo-economic competition in the Indo-Pacific. It was no accident that Pres. Xi Jinping chose Jakarta to unveil China’s proposal for a Maritime Silk Road in October 2013, a plan that evolved into China’s global Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Pres. Joko “Jokowi” Widodo embraced the BRI to help solve Indonesia’s infrastructure needs, signing deals worth billions of dollars in Chinese investment. At the same time, Jokowi established Indonesia as a model for how a developing nation can protect itself from undue Chinese influence by setting key conditions on BRI projects and pursuing alternate foreign investment partners. Despite providing development finance to Indonesia for decades, Washington was slow to incorporate its efforts into the US regional vision of a “free and open Indo-Pacific” (FOIP). The delay gave Beijing an opening to present itself as the partner of choice for infrastructure development and allowed the BRI to dominate public discourse. |
`In' analytical Note | Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs Vol. 3, No.4; Winter 2020: p.66-76 |
Journal Source | Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs 2020-10 3, 4 |
Key Words | Indonesia ; Belt and Road Initiative ; US–China Geo-Economic Competition |