Over the past decade, the Indo-Pacific – defined as the region between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, with Southeast Asia in its midst – has become a central stage for the US-China rivalry. 

As the largest economy in ASEAN, Indonesia has been pushing for the regional organization to take a stronger geopolitical stance amid the rise of China.

At an event organized by the Jakarta-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on Wednesday to celebrate the think tank’s 50^th anniversary, Prabowo said Indonesia had inherited an independent, active and nonaligned foreign policy.

This nonaligned stance was tested when the Donald Trump administration asked Indonesia to allow US surveillance planes targeting China to refuel and be serviced in the country, a proposal Indonesia rejected. 

Under President Joe Biden, the US continues to consider China the biggest challenge to the “stable and open” international system. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the country’s approach to China would be “competitive when it should be, collaborative when it can be and adversarial when it must be”.

In Southeast Asian forums, the US has raised “deep concern” over the rapid growth of China’s nuclear arsenal and has called on Beijing to cease its “provocative behavior” in the South China Sea.

“We respect all nations, especially during this exciting competition between the US and China,” Prabowo said. “Indonesia is friendly with the US and we are friendly with China, and if possible, we should be a bridge toward peace.”

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Prabowo said it was necessary for other Indo-Pacific countries to take a look at China’s meteoric rise, particularly with regard to poverty alleviation.

He said Indonesians should acknowledge what the Chinese leadership had accomplished over the past 40 to 50 years. 

“When we talk about the Indo-Pacific, like it or not, we have to look at China and the developments that have almost never happened in human history. They have eliminated poverty in just one generation,” he said.

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Prabowo said the challenge for Indonesia was how to provide the most welfare for its citizens in the shortest time amid the challenges of the 21^st century. He asserted that any political ideology should be measured by its ability to improve lives. 

“I hope that we as Indonesians will be honest with ourselves, not just stick to a mantra,” he said. “I really say this with good intentions. I was educated in the West, I went to Western schools, most of my military education was in the West. But should we copy everything from the West? Is that even suitable?”

The two-time presidential candidate said he was still in the political arena to realize such ideals. In June, he publicly signaled his willingness to enter the next presidential race.

“Our struggle is clear. There must be meaningful equality, there must be concrete and real welfare for the people, and the state must be present to protect the whole nation and people,” he said.

CSIS executive director Phillips J. Vermonte said he agreed with Prabowo's point that popular prosperity should be the objective and that nationalism would be meaningless without it. 

"Of course, because of that, we must constantly think about ways to make our nation a prosperous nation and make Pancasila more grounded," he said.