SOUTHEAST ASIAN REGIONAL PROCESSES FROM INDONESIA’S PERSPECTIVE Judit Pach SOUTHEAST ASIA AND THE INDONESIAN FOREIGN POLICY Indonesia has an independent foreign policy, traditionally based on a diversified system of relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in its centre1 as it is the main player shaping Southeast Asian regional processes. Indonesia’s regional focus—which is on the Southeast Asian region—has not changed in general for decades, but, in recent years, the country has become increasingly active in the Indo-Pacific region, and in global affairs, too. A new element in Indonesia’s classical geopolitical approach is the growing importance of economic diplomacy. It has been gaining ground in the country’s foreign policy since 2014, during the presidency of Joko Widodo, and even more since October 2019, the second term of the president. Indonesia is considered today as the world’s third-largest democracy and the most populous Muslim-majority state that has successfully built
up its democratic institutions and has undergone a comprehensive modernisation process in the past twenty-two years. In its foreign affairs, Indonesia is positioning itself as a stabilising force in the region while emphasising that it aims to protect the country’s territorial sovereignty. Although not directly involved in the South China Sea dispute, Indonesia plays a stabilising role in settling the differences between some ASEAN members and China. Jakarta also actively tries to settle its border disputes with some of the neighbouring ASEAN countries such as Malaysia and Singapore, and increasingly protects the interests of the large numbers of its citizens working abroad, among others, in the two above ASEAN countries. THE SOUTHEAST ASIAN REGIONAL ARCHITECTURE: INDONESIA AND ASEAN In the dynamics of global power relations, the importance of Asia in world politics has grown dramatically. The economies of the Asia-Pacific
PHILIPPINES
INDIA
MICRONESIA
RIAU ISLANDS
PALAU
INDONESIA
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
EAST TIMOR
The borders of Indonesia
COCOS CHRISTMAS ISLAND (KEELING) ISLANDS
AUSTRALIA
ASEAN PERSPECTIVES
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