How Indonesia is going its own way on Beijing, Brics and the South China Sea

Jakarta is aiming for full membership of the bloc while also asserting itself in the Natuna Islands

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Indonesia’s coastguard shadows a China Coast Guard vessel in North Natuna waters on October 25. Photo: BAKAMLA via AP

Published: 12:00pm, 3 Nov 2024Updated: 4:51pm, 3 Nov 2024

In just one week, two encounters in different parts of the world showed the balance Indonesia is trying to strike between its strategic and economic interests.

In the Russian city of Kazan, Indonesian Foreign Minister Sugiono was doing the diplomatic rounds to promote Jakarta’s bid to become a full member of Brics, a China-backed bloc of emerging economies.

Thousands of kilometres away in the South China Sea, Indonesian patrol ships were driving away Chinese coastguard vessels in waters where the countries have overlapping maritime claims.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto will perform that balancing act again later this month when he visits Beijing on a multistop trip to raise Jakarta’s international standing.

Observers say there are good reasons for both China and Indonesia to compartmentalise different issues in the relationship.

The oil and gas-rich Natuna Islands off northern Borneo are the main source of friction

The two countries do not have a formal territorial dispute but China’s sweeping nine-dash line claim to the South China cuts into Indonesia’s exclusive economic zones near the islands, and Chinese vessels regularly intrude into what Indonesia designates as the North Natuna Sea.