Indonesia pledges ‘balanced’ ties between US and China, signalling careful neutrality

“Indonesia’s selection represents the strengthening of Jakarta’s diplomatic bargaining position bilaterally, regionally, and in the context of China’s strategic competition with the US,” Nur Rachmat Yuliantoro, an international-relations professor at the University of Gadjah Mada, told This Week in Asia. The new mechanism could be a “good communication channel” between Jakarta and Beijing, especially during “certain contingencies” in the region, said Waffaa Kharisma, an international relations researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies Indonesia..