T

he time for a real test to Indonesia’s so-called “dynamic equilibrium” is imminent as the East Asia Summit (EAS) and the 19th ASEAN Summit kick off back-to-back this week.

It will be the first time the US and Russia have participated in the EAS, which will be held in Bali.

University of Indonesia international relations expert Syamsul Hadi said the EAS had expanded in a way that allowed the US and Russia to participate to balance the power of an aggressively growing China.

“The EAS has become important because it is ASEAN countries who decided to invite in the US and Russia, to counter China’s power,” he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

“[Nevertheless] the centrality of ASEAN remains in place despite the involvement of extra-regional powers, like the US and Russia, whose position is ambivalent, in the EAS, so there will be a dynamic equilibrium.”

He said ASEAN had brought the US closer to the circle following a string of incidents in the South China Sea between China — the largest claimant in the area — and four ASEAN claimants — Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines — as well as between China and the US.

“Indeed, there have been overlapping [territorial] claims among Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Taiwan and China in the South China Sea,” said Syamsul.

“The problems became more complicated after China reacted harshly to a US naval ship, Impeccable, in March 2009.”

He said China claimed the US ship, which was carrying out scientific activities, had trespassed into its territory in the South China Sea, while the US believed it was passing through international waters.

China did not specify what laws the American ship had broken but said the Impeccable had “conducted activities in China’s exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea without China’s permission,” The New York Times daily reported on March 10, 2009.

The internationalization of the South China Sea issues have also irked an increasingly confident China, with Vietnam requesting during the Asian Regional Forum in Hanoi last year that the US play a more active role in East Asia, according to Syamsul.

“Despite China’s uneasiness in the internationalization of the South China Sea issues, it finally has to deal with it and accept it,” he said, underlining the situation of relations between ASEAN and China.

“Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao avoided talking hard political issues during his visit to Indonesia in April this year, and took on only soft issues, for example how China has become a prominent trade partner to ASEAN and will be more active in participating in developing ASEAN, including through infrastructure projects,” he said of how China had softened its stance toward ASEAN.

Indonesia Center of Democracy, Diplomacy and Defense executive director Begi Hersutanto said Indonesia, as current chair of ASEAN, should not let powers like the US and China “dominate” issues in the EAS.