Thus, while Asia writ large has served as the backdrop of Indonesian foreign policy, Jakarta is always looking for a larger avenue, equal to its size and ambition. The "global maritime fulcrum" is one such concept, as is "dynamic equilibrium" and the "ASEAN Community as part of the International Community".

But without a more nuanced understanding of Asia, Indonesia will also miss out on its many strengths. To begin with, when Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide made his maiden trip abroad, he chose Indonesia and Vietnam. The reasons were simple;

Vietnam is a key part of Indo-China that has always had the anticolonial mentality of resisting foreign invasions, while Indonesia is an archipelago politely masquerading as a state. It is against any form of colonialism that can violate its sovereignty, which in more ways than one is Indonesia's "sakti" (sacred power).

But as vast as Indonesia is, some historians have averred that the word "Asia" was derived from the Phoenician word “asa” which means "east". The Ancient Romans picked up the word from the Greeks. Indonesia has always understood its power in the context of how various colonial powers might want to ensnare it.

This includes the East India Company, the Dutch East India Company, the Japanese Imperialist Forces, only to begin to end with the formation of the NAM and the creation of ASEAN on Aug. 8, 1967.

Indonesia is indeed part of the enlarged geography of the Indo-Pacific, enclosed by the Indian Ocean, Natuna Island near the gateway to the South China Sea and the South Pacific.

Given its wing span, which can help Southeast Asia soar, Indonesia is effectively the intellectual thought leader of Indo-Pacific, not necessarily the hard power that can be projected from the Indo-Pacific Command in Honolulu, Hawaii, or the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands or Germany, all of which have an Indo-Pacific strategy.

Diplomatic chatter is abuzz with rumors that US President Joe Biden will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Singapore in March 2021. It is important that they meet because both leaders have introduced three words into their all-important Sino-US relationship.

President Biden said that President Xi did not "have any democratic bone in him", only to follow up a few days later that the US would deal with China with "patience", while also characterizing Xi as a "thug" on the campaign trail last year, a word he used twice. What does President Biden mean?

After Biden was safely positioned as the 46th president of the White House, the pejorative description was switched to Western journalists' favorite; the Sino-US relationship is now being characterized as "extreme competition".

Either way, the National Security Council of President Biden is the largest evil, with Jake Sullivan, 44, as the National Security advisor and with the new post of Indo-Pacific coordinator being assigned to Kurt Campbell.

Meanwhile, president Xi has been very calm, patiently waiting three weeks before president Biden made a call to wish him, and China, a happy Lunar New Year.

Within China, unfazed by a small outbreak of COVID-19 cases in Hubei, president Xi has urged his country to focus on "dual circulation" in the Chinese economy and to aim for a carbon-neutral Chinese economy by 2060, a goal that president Biden is not necessarily opposed to at all.

Indonesia may be a strategic thought leader in ASEAN. By the same token, it also carries the weight of being a deep listener. Indonesia is, after all, a full member of the G20, an observer of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and a close partner of Australia.

When Indonesia speaks, both China and the US do pay attention. And, as a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the world’s largest predominantly Muslim nation, its voice of modesty and moderation in the Islamic world matters more than anyone cares to concede.

The region changing its linguistic focus from Asia-Pacific to the Indo-Pacific heralds the dawn of a new age. One should remember that Asia has had many names too. such as the Orient, the Far East, the South East Asia Command, the Pacific Rim, the Pacific Basin, the Pacific Asia Free Trade and Development area, East Asia, the North Pacific, Asia-Pacific, Pacific Asia, Indo-Asia-Pacific and, finally, the Indo-Pacific.

Regardless of what is what and which is which, amid the US, ASEAN, the UK, which under its Grand Strategy of Global Britannia has a paper called "The Tilt Towards Indo-Pacific", not forgetting France, which is the largest oceanic power in terms of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), one of the first things Indonesia must do is lead, listen and counsel ASEAN accordingly.

This would help the ASEAN group at the United Nations coordinate its strategy more effectively, such as regarding the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone (SEANWFZ), especially when the US and China have suddenly become sworn enemies, with Russia being an "unknown unknown".

But great power rivalries cannot be maintained in total stealth forever. They need to show their road maps and blue prints, not unlike what China did with the Belt and Road Initiative or Russia's Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).

With the US, a quadrilateral dialogue in the Indo-Pacific been opened that could morph into Quads, comprised of the US, Australia, India and Japan, or Quads Plus, which can include like-minded countries.

In mid-February of this year, the US and the European Union (EU) also explored a quadrilateral dialogue in transatlantic relations, now that China is reviving its 17+1 initiative to break into Central Eastern Europe, with Serbia as its "steel friend".

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The writer is founder and CEO of Strategic Pan Indo-Pacific Arena.