ABSTRACT
Chapter 8 explores the geopolitical significance of the BRI in the case of Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest country. It argues this region constitutes the geographical centre of today’s global great-power rivalry, in which the US and China are the key players. It was in the Indonesian capital, in 2013, that China first announced its ambitions for the Maritime Silk Road. This chapter asks which economic and diplomatic activities constitute the BRI in the case of Indonesia. It then asks what impact these activities have on China and Indonesia’s political relations as well as on Indonesia’s position with regard to China-US tensions. The chapter particularly focuses on Indonesia’s efforts to maintain strategic autonomy and on manifestations of great-power influence on the country’s foreign policy-making.
