Economy Versus Security: Competition Between China and The United States in Elevating Partnership with Indonesia

Abstract

China and Indonesia celebrated their 70 years of diplomatic relations in 2020. Both countries were celebrating throughout the year as a symbol of the close relationship. China and Indonesia relation has gone further through a comprehensive strategic partnership that has brought benefits to both countries. Through Xi Jinping's visit to Indonesia, there has been an enhancement from the level of strategic partnership in 2005 to the comprehensive strategic partnership in 2013. In the other side, the security relations between the United States and Indonesia are also getting stronger. The U.S. desire to build closer security engagement in Southeast Asia was welcomed positively by Indonesia. The study wants to examine how the competition between China and the United States to establish partnerships with Indonesia using the strategic partnership analysis framework from Strüver (2016). The study shows that security relations between China and Indonesia lag behind economic cooperation and are hampered by the bleak history of security relations between the two countries and China's aggressive behavior in the South China Sea. Consequently, China has not utilized the framework of comprehensive strategic partnership in security and military cooperation with Indonesia. In contrast, The United States enjoys a friendly security relationship through several military exercises and the frequent sending of Indonesian military officers to study at U.S. military education institutions. However, the economic relations between the United States and Indonesia is not in the same pace with security relations. Finally, both China and the U.S. have used their main leverages in building influence in the region, especially in Indonesia.

Keywords: Indonesia, China, The United States, Competition, Partnership