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Great expectations overshadow Indonesia-Australia ties
In a speech to Australian lawmakers delivered in Indonesian, Jokowi said that both sides should put more focus on collaborating in the Indo-Pacific region, especially after they had finalized the hotly anticipated Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (left) addressing the Australian Parliament in Canberra, Australia on Monday, Feb. 10, 2020. (Presidential Palace Press Bureau/Laily Rachev)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo returned from Canberra late on Monday having garnered largely positive responses to his historic state visit to Australia, owing much to the conclusion of a landmark economic agreement that paves the way for closer cooperation between the neighbors.
However, some experts have cautioned against overstating the sentiment in Australia that Jakarta would become a helpful ally for Canberra to pursue its wider regional interests, particularly as they relate to China.
Jokowi wrapped up his fourth visit to Australia with an historic address at a joint session of the Australian parliament, where he outlined not only the future of bilateral relations but also how the two countries could overcome challenges in the Indo-Pacific.
In a speech to Australian lawmakers delivered in Indonesian, Jokowi said that both sides should put more focus on collaborating in the Indo-Pacific region, especially after they had finalized the hotly anticipated Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
“What Indonesia and ASEAN [have] envisioned through the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific [is] to change rivalry to cooperation and turn a trust deficit into strategic trust,” he said.
The Indo-Pacific is a region straddling the Pacific and Indian oceans, in which Australia’s own security and economic interests collide. The term has been popularized by the United States’ vision of a “free and open” Indo-Pacific region, which experts believe is an apparent snub of China’s expansive ambitions through the Belt and Road Initiative.
As a member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a US-led alliance that aims to counter the rise of China, Australia was among the first countries to support the adoption of the ASEAN outlook.
