Opinion | As Indonesia stands up to China, who will follow in Southeast Asia?
- Richard Heydarian writes that major Southeast Asian nations are beginning to resist China’s territorial claims
- Until recently neighbouring countries have tried to avoid direct confrontation with Beijing
“Mystify, mislead and surprise the enemy,” the ancient Chinese strategist Sun Tzu advised in The Art of War. Millennia later, China’s smaller neighbours are employing the same strategy against the Asian powerhouse to defend their interests.
Following a long bout of delectable exchanges and a strategic charm offensive, leaders of major archipelagic nations in Southeast Asia have upped the ante, now directly challenging Beijing’s expansive claims in adjacent waters.
In a major policy shift, Indonesia, the de facto leader of Southeast Asia, has openly rejected China’s claims within its traditional waters while bolstering its military presence in areas where claims overlap.
It’s a dramatic departure from its long-standing whisper diplomacy under which it often has avoided direct diplomatic disputes with Beijing amid rising tensions in Asia’s maritime heartlands.
We see a clear pattern of rising Indonesian assertiveness against China.
Fed up with what they perceive as China’s revanchist designs, a growing number of neighbouring countries have risked disrupting fruitful economic relations with Beijing amid rising nationalism and anti-China sentiment at home.