The US embassy has confirmed to The Jakarta Post that Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir, a career diplomat with nearly three decades of experience, will take on the envoy post and is arriving in Jakarta “this summer”.

With fierce rivalry between Washington and Beijing increasingly becoming the hallmark of contemporary geopolitics, Indonesia, in its commitment to non-alignment, has so far attempted to balance its position by engaging with China for economic dealings and cooperating with the US for security. 

The country’s incoming government led by Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto has pledged a platform of continuity, signaling that it does not plan any major foreign policy changes. 

However, Jakarta’s economic ambitions to elevate its status and become a high-income country over the next decades have been criticized by foreign policy experts as having negatively affected its hedging strategy.

Many have noted that Indonesia’s tendency to engage more frequently with Beijing in attempts to attract investment contradicts its signal of neutrality, advising that more diplomatic tact should be exercised amid an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape. 

Read also: Beijing will always attach great importance to Indonesia: Chen

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