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RI, UK discuss closer Indo-Pacifi c cooperation
Both countries pledge to strengthen partnership in health, defense, trade
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ritish Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has expressed the United Kingdom’s “commitment” to the Indo-Pacific during his visit to Indonesia on Wednesday, when the two countries pledged stronger partnership in certain areas, including health.
The UK’s top diplomat was in Jakarta on April 7 to attend the third partnership meeting with Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, who said it was important for Indonesia and the UK to work more closely in the health sector as the world strived to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Retno proposed that the two sides work together on research and development in the health and pharmaceutical industries, as well as collaborate on vaccine production.
As a sources of the country’s COVID-19 vaccine supply, the UK was “expected to show leadership” in vaccine multilateralism and be ready to share its vaccines with other countries amid the growing global concern over vaccine nationalism.
“As cochair of the COVAX AMC Engagement Group, I have a moral obligation to continue promoting cooperation in ensuring equal access to vaccines for all,” Retno said at the meeting.
She was referring to the Gavi COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Advanced Market Commitment, a cost-sharing mechanism for developed countries to help ensure vaccine access and availability for developing countries.
The two foreign ministers also discussed economic and defense cooperation, both bilaterally and regionally.
In terms of regional issues, Retno and Raab spoke about how the international community could support ASEAN in helping Myanmar resolve the increased violence in that country, following the military coup on Feb. 1 against the democratically elected government.
“We share the same concerns and continue to call for the Myanmar military to stop the use of force to prevent further civilian casualties and to create conditions conducive for dialogue to put democracy, peace and stability back on track,” said Retno.
Meanwhile, Raab said the UK’s engagement with Indonesia and other Southeast Asian nations was part of its broader strategy for the Indo-Pacific region.
“All of this underlines the British commitment to the Indo-Pacific and our ambition for an even stronger relationship with Indonesia, which I think is reflected not just in the bilateral issues we have discussed, but [also] the global issues we have discussed, from the Middle East peace process to Myanmar,” he said on Wednesday.
The Indo-Pacific, which connects the Pacific and Indian Oceans, has been growing in strategic importance in recent years, with countries in the region, including the United States, Japan, India and Australia, promoting their own vision for an Indo-Pacific order.
Observers have noted that these visions were a strategy to contain China, whose dominance was growing in the region.
ASEAN has a significant role as regional hub, and has sought to maintain neutrality despite the rivalry between superpowers the US and China. In 2019, the bloc adopted the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific to ensure more inclusiveness.
The UK, with its long history as a colonial power in the Pacific, is seeking new partnerships with the region’s countries following Brexit.
Raab said that the UK had recently published an “integrated review of security, defense development and foreign policy” that sought to chart a post-European Union future.
“It is probably the most comprehensive articulation of British foreign policy for a generation. It sets out our vision for Britain in the world and places the Indo-Pacific at the heart of it, and Indonesia at the heart of that vision,” he said.
One of the UK’s post-EU objectives is to seek international cooperation with countries outside Europe. This includes establishing ties with ASEAN as a dialogue partner, an issue discussed at the UK-ASEAN Open-ended Troika Dialogue on Thursday.
At the virtual meeting, Retno reiterated her points on the need for equal access and distribution of vaccines, noting that only 16.8 million doses were available for ASEAN's 600 million population.
The UK and ASEAN nations also discussed how they could work together on economic recovery, climate change and the coup situation in Myanmar. They have also agreed to start cooperation in the maritime and environmental sectors, economic recovery and digitalization.
ASEAN has 10 dialogue partners that include Russia, Canada and the EU, and their representatives meet regularly in a 10-plus-one format to discuss cooperation in economic progress, market access, technology transfer and development assistance.
The UK’s engagement with ASEAN was previously considered part of the ASEAN-EU partnership, but it is now seeking to engage with the bloc on its own since it left the EU. In 2019, prior to the UK’s formal exit from the supranational regional organization, Raab attended the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Bangkok as a guest of Thailand, which was then the ASEAN chair.
However, ASEAN has a more than 20-year moratorium in place for the establishment of new dialogue partners, and member states have yet to agree on how they might lift it.
