CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE

Note: this article was originally published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. We have included it here as a member activity, but APLN did not commission this item. The original article can be found on the Carnegie website here.

Short excerpt:

When the G20 summit opened in Bali in November 2022, rancor over Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine was high. According to the host, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, this was the “most difficult” G20 summit ever. “We should not divide the world into parts,” Widodo said. “We must not allow the world to fall into another cold war.”¹ These comments captured Indonesia’s attitude toward both the war in Ukraine and the rivalry between the United States and China. As an emerging power keen on maintaining regional stability, Indonesia is deeply concerned about the drift toward antagonistic blocs. Indonesia’s diplomats often cite its founding prime minister, Mohammed Hatta, who said in 1948 that Indonesia is “rowing between two reefs,” charting a middle path between great powers. Indonesia takes a regional approach to world order and sees ASEAN as the primary forum to manage security issues. On Ukraine, this approach has led it to a policy of strict neutrality.

Original article link: https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/11/09/indonesia-in-emerging-world-order-pub-90966