Indonesian defense planners are “most concerned about” this multilateral construction, Ridzwan says, “because it has opened up another entry in this fight between great capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Should a war break out between China and the US, he added,” some of the fighting, if not ( the bulk ) of the fighting, is going to happen within Indonesian waters because of how the positions of the hotspots are based”.
Indonesia was concerned that it” could lead to an arms competition in the region” when Aukus was initially announced in 2021, according to Storey.
Some observers perhaps think Indonesia’s individual defense build-up could be a reason, too, for such an arms race. ” However, there are no symptoms among Indonesia’s present officials that they’re adopting aggressive politics like in the previous”, said Khairul.