It is in this context that we welcome United States State Secretary Antony Blinken to Jakarta this week, to discuss a number of issues relevant to Indonesia and the US. When discussing regional and global security, we may not be allies, but we are certainly partners: strategic partners.

Blinken is in town as part of his whirlwind Southeast Asia tour, which includes Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. High on his agenda is the rising tensions in the South China Sea due to overlapping territorial claims that have pitted China against several member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and because major powers, including the US, have built a naval presence to secure freedom of navigation in the strategic waterway that is vital to international trade.

Given the increasing rivalry between the US and China, Blinken’s visit is widely seen as an attempt to boost engagement with countries in the region. In Jakarta, he is scheduled to give a speech on the US’ new Indo-Pacific strategic framework.

Among the 10 ASEAN countries, the Philippines and Thailand are US allies. Indonesia, the largest country in the grouping, is not and is unlikely to become one, even as Jakarta and Washington push harder to establish closer defense and military ties.

Indonesia and the US signed a comprehensive partnership agreement in 2010, and five years later, President Joko Widodo and then-president Barack Obama elevated the arrangement to a strategic partnership with important security and defense components.

That marked a historical peak in Indonesia-US relations, which then entered into a lull under Donald Trump. Now, with President Joe Biden in the White House, Washington is reviewing its approach in Southeast Asia and Blinken’s visit seeks to revive US ties with Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia.