TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Indonesia, South Korea aim for inclusive regional order
As the largest economy in Southeast Asia, Indonesia is a priority in South Korea's New Southern Policy, an initiative to increase engagement with countries in the region and India.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo (third left) meets with South Korean President Moon Jae-In (second right) during a bilateral meeting in Busan, South Korea, on Nov. 25, 2019. During the meeting, Moon expressed appreciation for Indonesia's role on cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. (Handout/Presidential Press Bureau/Laily Rachev)
I
ndonesia and South Korea share a similar stance as middle powers in the Indo-Pacific region amid the increasing rivalry between the United States and China by preferring cooperation between all parties, experts and officials have said.
In the past three years, South Korea has sought to diversify its diplomatic engagement beyond its traditional partners through its New Southern Policy, an initiative to increase engagement with countries in Southeast Asia and India.
Indonesia, the largest economy in Southeast Asia, has become one of the East Asian country’s priorities. South Korean President Moon Jae-in was on a state visit to Jakarta in November 2017 when he introduced the initiative.
Three years later, at the 21st ASEAN-Korea Summit, Moon announced that the policy would be upgraded to the New Southern Policy Plus (NSP+). The new initiative aims to strengthen and expand the existing policy and adjust its priorities to the situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Seoul is not the first country to increase its engagement with the region, its strategy was predominantly oriented toward development cooperation rather than security, said Choe Wongi, the head of the Center for ASEAN–India Studies of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA).
That approach, he added, set South Korea’s regional strategy apart from strategies of other countries. The US’s “free and open Indo-Pacific” (FOIP) approach, for example, was focused on containing China’s influence in the region. Meanwhile, Japan’s FOIP emphasized the need to maintain a rules-based order in the region.
Read also: Indonesia calls for ‘diplomacy, dialogue’ ahead of Japan meeting
