ABSTRACT
As tension rises in the Indo-Pacific region, competing countries, notably Australia, China, India, Japan, and the United States have been trying to bring Indonesia to its side. While Indonesian officials often express their willingness to engage in more maritime cooperation, this is often wrongly interpreted as Indonesia’s willingness to join a military alliance. Such belief contradicts Indonesia’s adherence to its independent foreign policy, expressed in a “free and active” philosophy, which has been challenged. At the same time, however, the United States has been trying to formalize the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, which would end up providing an alternative to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In addition, China has also been able to pull several members of ASEAN into its orbit. As a result, Indonesia pursues the policy of ASEAN Centrality as a way to compensate for Indonesia’s relative weakness. This choice to pursue ASEAN Centrality is based on Indonesia’s status as a middle power and its strategic culture, which will be discussed in this chapter.
