The United States and Indonesia have announced a major defense cooperation partnership. The partnership promises to be a boon to both countries and ends America’s long history of overlooking Indonesia’s strategic potential.
On Monday, War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Indonesian Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said the MDCP is “intended to serve as a guiding framework to advance bilateral defense cooperation.” In a joint statement, the two defense heads said the partnership has three pillars of cooperation, including military modernization, training and professional military education, and exercises and operational cooperation.
Additionally, as a “symbol of this elevated partnership,” the two nations agreed to enhance joint special forces training to “advance mutual security interests” and “forge even stronger, more resilient bonds” between American and Indonesian service members.
The announcement is welcome news. Indonesia matters, and for the U.S. and its growing interests in the Indo-Pacific, it matters a great deal.
Indonesia is the fourth-most populous nation in the world, the third-largest democracy, and the largest Muslim-majority state. But demographics alone don’t tell the story. Geography also makes Indonesia consequential.
Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world and sits astride major sea lanes connecting East Asia, South Asia, and Oceania. Major maritime chokepoints such as the Malacca Strait, upon which an estimated 20%-25% of globally traded goods and 35% of seaborne oil pass, lurk nearby. Other nations such as Singapore and Malaysia are also close to these critical transit points, but they lack Indonesia’s population and military and economic heft.
Indeed, the country could play a key role in the emerging contest between the U.S. and China.
Like other middle powers, Indonesia could seek to hedge between the two. Indonesia has long chosen “nonalignment,” preferring to forego, to the extent possible, taking a side in great power rivalries. That was certainly the path that Jakarta took during the last Cold War.
But it might not be possible this time around. After all, the preeminent battleground for this Cold War isn’t Europe or Berlin. Rather, it’s Indonesia’s own backyard. And the stakes are even greater.
China’s expansionist ambitions are no secret. Beijing seeks mastery of the Indo-Pacific, the part of the world that will account for the majority of the world’s GDP. Chinese President Xi Jinping considers himself to be Asia’s “Man of Destiny.” For Indonesia, “nonalignment” might be an ambition out of step with geographic realities.
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In this sense, it makes sense for Indonesia to seek an enhanced partnership with the U.S., just as it makes sense for American policymakers to look to the Asian nation to shore up deterrence and capabilities in a part of the world that some have warned is a “simmering cauldron.”
In both foreign policy and war, options are a good thing to have. The recent MDCP offers precisely that and prioritizes what is sure to be an increasingly important relationship.