CC BY
90
Section 8. Political science
Djurayeva Gulrukh Mirjalolovna, Senior Research Fellow, PhD student of the University of World Economy and Diplomacy, Uzbekistan E-mail: [email protected]
Indonesia's foreign policy strategy in the context of globalization
Abstract: In the article author writes about Indonesia's foreign policy, strategies and its links with ASEAN. Historic observes to Indonesia's foreign policy, the state ideology. Besides these Author draws attention to the directive of the state since the beginning of the new century, Indonesia aims to achieve a strong foreign policy and diplomacy; increase foreign economic cooperation; to participate in the bilateral, regional and multilateral cooperation.
Keywords: Foreign policy strategy, ASEAN, the directive of the state, bilateral, regional and multilateral cooperation, regional "players", inter-religious dialogue.
As proclaimed in the mid 1940s the Indonesian state was able to finally complete its institutionalization process as an independent actor, despite the fact that Indonesia's Sukarno proclaimed independence on 17 August in 1945 [1, 28], which was mainly caused by a desire to reach a compromise between secular and Muslim nationalists.
Many of the ideas and views expressed by Indonesian leader significantly outperformed the period. He was the architect of the non-aligned movement and the peaceful coexistence of States with different political systems. In 1955, in Bandung, Sukarno offered one of the global projects of the twentieth century — the Bandung Code of peaceful coexistence, in which visible similarities with the Helsinki Final Act of 1975 were examined. In Belgrade on September 1, 1961, Sukarno had outlined its new vision of international relations and the global balance of power. He proposed the concept of new "emerging forces", considering world is not divided into three camps — Eastern, Western and non-aligned countries, but two — the "old established forces" and the "new emerging forces".
Referring to the sources of foreign policy of Indonesia, it is important to note that, as in any other country, it was formed as a result of various factors, including nation's history, geographical conditions, demography, security and national interest. In 1948, these factors led Indonesia to determine its foreign policy as independent and active. The Russian researcher V. F. Urlyanov notes that, in its foreign policy, Indonesia abides by the following guidelines:
• Pancasila, the state ideology;
• Wawasan Nusantara, (archipelagic meaning);
• National resilience;
• Clear outlines of state policy [2, 35-36].
In order to achieve these objectives or directives, the following measures were identified: to establish Indonesia's international relations with the countries of the world; to develop economy and improve public welfare; provide assistance in strengthening national unity, stability and integrity to maintain national sovereignty; to develop bilateral relations, especially with countries that can support stable and beneficial trade relations in Indonesia by investing to help in the revival of the economy; as well as to promote international cooperation, which helps to build and maintain peace in the world.
In order to provide assurance for the fulfillment of the objectives, the foreign ministry is emphasizing the diplomatic relations with the countries that are within a series of concentric circles.
The main one which Indonesia regards as a priority in its foreign policy is the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN). In addition, Indonesia similarly understands the importance of promoting the relations with its eastern and southern neighbors,
in the occurrence of Indonesia in the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), the South-west Pacific Dialog, and the Tripartite Consultation among Indonesia, Australia and East Timor.
The second concentric circle is ASEAN + 3 [3]. Indonesia is banking on the development of the relations with the United States and the European Union, which are the main economic partners of Indonesia.
In the next concentric circle, Indonesia has been cooperating with developing countries through various forums, such as the Non-aligned movement, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Group of 77 (G77) and the Group of 15 (G15), in which Indonesia has played an active role. Indonesian diplomacy in this circle is seeking to strengthen collective efforts of developing countries to establishing a bridge between developed and developing countries.
At the global level, Indonesia seeks to strengthen multilateralism through the United Nations, consistently stressing the central role of the UN and its collective responsibility of Member States in matters ofworld peace and security issues, respectively, rejecting all unilateral decisions that taken outside the UN.
The main challenges of Indonesian diplomacy at the modern stage is the creation of favorable external conditions for the security of the country, the strengthening of statehood and national unity, the preservation of the territorial integrity of Indonesia, as well as the promotion of social and economic development of the republic. The given problems are designated by realization of Indonesia's inner policy which includes constant struggle with terroristic organizations and an increase in crime, as well as attempts to eradicate poverty as one of the sources of terrorism. The policy of Indonesia has been able to achieve the required level of security, including its security in touristic areas [4, 1-2].
The analysis of the studied literature has shown that Indonesia's cooperation with the United States and the countries of the European Union is quit ambiguous and contradictory [5, 86]. For example, noting the crucial importance of political, trade and economic ties with the US, which is the main investor and the largest market for Indonesian goods, expresses negative reactions to attempts of interfering with the internal affairs of the country under the pretext of combating terrorism and the protection of human rights.
In our point of view, the main complexity in the process of normalization of bilateral relations is the fact that the Indonesian leadership is forced to seek a compromise between the interests of Muslim majority of Indonesia, which is followed by pronounced anti-American positions while demonstrating its loyalty to Washington policy.
Development of cooperation of Indonesia with the EU is mainly based on attracting investments, financial assistance and procurement
Indonesia's foreign policy strategy in the context of globalization
of military equipment. However, as in the case of the United States, countries of Western Europe are directly linked to the improvement of relations with Jakarta in the normalization of the situation in the sphere of human rights in Indonesia, the elimination of corruption at all levels of government and to the deepening democratic change in the society. With this in mind, the president continues to pursue the course ofprevious leadership of the republic, aimed at the expansion of contacts with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, including Russia and CIS countries, which are viewed byJakarta as alternative sources of investment, high technology, and relatively low-cost modern weapons and military equipment.
In recent years, Indonesia has significantly improved its relations with China. During the visits in 2005 with heads of state, the parties had been able to move significantly in the deepening bilateral political and economic relations, removing many contradictions and to sign a number of important documents, including the Treaty on strategic partnership. In Jakarta, PRC is considered as a meaningful political, military and strategic and economic force, capable to compensate for trends to enhance the impact of the US in East Siberia. From these positions it is necessary to consider the visit of Indonesian delegation, led by the Coordinating Minister of the economy Aburizal Bakrie in China, held on June 2005. This visit was a direct continuation of bilateral agreements reached in 2005, during the visit of the President of China Hu Jintao in Indonesia, and was designed to prepare a response four-day visit by President of Indonesia, S. B. Yudhoyono to China. One of the main trade partners of Indonesia continues to be Japan. However, much attention is paid to the development of the bilateral dialogue. The Indonesian government pays serious attention to the development of bilateral relations with Russia, which is seen in Jakarta as an influential political and military-strategic point of power, as well as a potentially important energy, trade and economic partner. In addition, the similarity of positions on key international issues, including the problems ofAf-ghanistan, Iraq, Iran, the fight against terrorism and separatism, the settlement of the situation in the Middle East, the role and place of the UN in the modern world, promotes a closer relationship between the two countries. Indonesia also welcomes the position of the Russian Federation, which consists in recognizing the importance of deepening regional economic development in ASEAN, leading role of ARF in the establishment of security in Southeast Asia. The Indonesian leadership is a consistent supporter of the UN in the resolution of international problems and expressing the need to reform the organization, by increasing the number of permanent members of the Security Council [6, 44].
As already mentioned, one of the priorities of the foreign policy efforts of the Government of Indonesia is the development of relations with partners in the Association of South-East Asia.
Indonesian leadership is seeking to restore its traditional leading position in ASEAN undermined as a result of political and economic crisis in 1998 by broadening and deepening of regional cooperation [7, 98-99]. In this regard, Indonesia has put forward a number of initiatives in the area of regional security and the fight against terrorism, including the proposal to establish the ASEAN Security Community, which provides for the formation of a 2020 single operational and legal environment in Southeast Asia. The main point of this initiative was the idea of a peacekeeping mechanism in ASEAN to ensure security and stability in the region. At the same time, Indonesia responded to the Malaysian proposal to establish an East Asian Community (EAC), which, in the opinion ofJakarta, leads to the "blurring" ASEAN's role, and generates additional regional structure with a duplicate existing mechanisms function as in the ASEAN + 3. In the understanding of Indonesians, this leads to a weakening of the overall position of the Southeast Asian countries in establishing relationships with other international organizations of a regional nature.
Confident and consistent policy in the past to unite Indonesia Southeast Asian countries has led to the establishment of ASEAN as an organization. In the beginning of 2011, Indonesia received a great opportunity to enhance their role in ASEAN, when it officially became chairman of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN. The Secretary General of this regional organization Surin Pitsuwan mentioned: "This year Indonesia is going to lead ASEAN, with an official motto", One ASEAN Community in the global community of nations, "thus reflecting their willingness to further promotion of the association in the world". In turn, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia, Marty Natalegawa, said that "The contemporary world is radically different from the one in which the Association has existed previously, challenges of the second decade of the XXI century are complex and multifaceted, they occur simultaneously and have supranational nature. That's why they require such decisions, which are by their comprehensive nature of cooperation both within regions and between themselves".
Today, the internal political and economic crisis in Indonesia, ASEAN's largest country in terms of population, area and size of GDP, has a negative impact on the economic cooperation in the region. Despite the fact that the current foreign policy of the «new order» is characterized by a modest regional hegemony in ASEAN (in which Indonesia makes up 60 % of the population), Indonesia continues to be a consistent supporter of development and strengthening the position of ASEAN in Southeast Asia and in the world, while also having a fear of losing their traditional role as a regional leader due to the dominance of economically more developed regional «players». Thus, the government of Indonesia opposes the transformation ofASEAN from economic to military-political bloc.
References:
1. PlekhanovA. Y. Social-political reform in Indonesia, 1945-1975. - Moscow, 1980. - P. 3-28.
2. Urlanov V. F. Indonesia and international relations in Asia-Pacific region. - Moscow: "Science", 1993. - P. 35-36.
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4. Indonesia's foreign policy in the current global era. Presented by Nicholas T. Dammen, Director General/head of policy planning and development agency, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Republic of Indonesia. - Tashkent, November 28, 2005. - P. 1-2.
5. Taylor Jean Gelman. Indonesia: Peoples and Histories. - New Haven, London, 2003. - P. 86.
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