Indonesia Gets Cozy With Japan

[Valin]

Via Meadia:

Mar. 25 2015

 

New Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was in Japan this week for high level security meetings about maritime security in Asia. Top of the agenda: China’s territorial ambitions in the East and South China Seas.

 

That’s because, although Indonesia doesn’t technically have any territorial dispute with China, Jakarta still has good reasons to be worried about Beijing’s expansionism. As we wrote last August, Chinese vessels often push into Indonesia’s territory in Natuna, stoking fears that Beijing’s broad territorial ambitions secretly include the remote archipelago. So now, Jokowi is making clear that Indonesia is joining the group of countries which oppose Beijing’s Nine-Dash Line claims and aggressive maritime policies. The Diplomat has more:

 

(Snip)

 

Indonesia’s entry into this Japanese-organized forum is just one more demonstration of the barriers in the way of China’s achieving the regional hegemony it continues to pursue. None of China’s neighbors can stand up to their big regional bully individually, but as we’ve seen over the past several years, when Beijing pursues aggressive policies it quickly finds itself surrounded by a group of united opponents. Indonesia’s recent moves indicate that this dynamic is still very much with us.

[Valin]

Meanwhile.......

 

Vietnam the Bellwether?

Mar. 27 2015

 

Japan and China are vying for influence over Hanoi, one front in their larger competition for supremacy in Asia. China has been losing of late, according to a recent * Wall Street Journal piece:

 

(Snip)

 

The piece gets a lot right, but in the fight for the future of Asia Vietnam isn’t exactly a bellwether. There is no real competition between Japan and China here, because for cultural and historical reasons Vietnam would only ever really go with China in extremis. Doing so would mean it had lost, and lost big—it wasn’t just over theoretical mineral deposits that the Vietnamese riots over the Chinese oil rig in its waters turned deadly.

 

India, on the other hand, is more powerful and important than Vietnam; it is also giving plenty of support to Vietnam; and Tokyo and Beijing are fighting over it more fiercely. Right now, Japan is winning that fight, thanks to the close personal rapport between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Narendra Modi, the ongoing border dispute between China and India, and New Delhi’s fears about China’s ambitions in the Indian Ocean. If you’re looking for a bellwether country to tell you whether Japan is succeeding at keeping China’s hegemonic ambitions in Asia in check, look to India.

 

* Behind Paywall