Foreign Policy Talks

Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) is recently conducting the ASEAN-China Survey 2021. The year 2021 is a special year for ASEAN and China as they commemorate the 30th anniversary of ASEAN China – Dialogue Relations that was established in 1991. In light of this, FPCI recognizes the importance of continuing the study. The survey is titled “ASEAN – China Survey 2021: Assessing Three Decades of Partnership.”

This year’s survey aims not only to assess Southeast Asian people’s perspectives on the ASEAN-China relations in various areas; political-security, geopolitical dynamics, trade, economy, connectivity, socio-culture, cooperation on COVID-19, but also to identify key trends, challenges, and prospects of cooperation after 1 year of the COVID-19 pandemic and onwards. The respondents are coming from 10 ASEAN nationals with wide-ranging background. 

Listen to my conversation with the Project Lead of this ASEAN-China Survey 2021, Calvin Khoe. Enjoy!

The COP-26 Summit in Glasgow finally ended with a climate pact with a set of carbon market rules associated to Article 6 of Paris Agreement. At the last stage of the COP-26 negotiation, India backed by China and other major coal-producing nations proposed a revision to change “phased out” into “phased down” of coal use in the documents. Thus, the COP-26 received a variety of responses including disappointment from many nations.

What was the outcome of COP-26 Glasgow and how about Indonesia’s climate commitment? Hear my conversations withKuki Soejachmoen, Co-founder and Executive Director of Indonesia Research Institute for Decarbonization (IRID) and experienced COP negotiator.

G20 was concluded last week in Rome, Italy with a 20-page declaration. So many areas covered and agreed in the declaration. This episode covers the priorities and policy stances of Indonesia at the G20 Summit and what does it mean for Indonesia’s G20 Presidency next year. Were there any implications of the China’s Xi Jin Ping and Russia’s Putin absence from the G20 summit?

In this episode, I talked to Phuong Vu, a Phd Candidate on Politics at the University of Otago in New Zealand about Vietnam’s debt burden to China and its political risks. An interesting fact, Vietnam has long been suspicious of the BRI and to date no new infrastructure project in Vietnam has been officially labelled as part of the BRI in the public domain. Why is it so?Against those risks, why does Vietnam continue to seek funding from China? Enjoy the conversation!

Fumio Kishida has won a race to lead Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), putting him on course to become the next prime minister. He won against the high-profile Minister Taro Kono and also Sanae Takaichi. Mr Kishida will succeed Yoshihide Suga, who decided to step down after just one year in office. In this episode, I talked with Professor Kotaro Tamura, Former Senator and Parliamentary Secretary of cabinet office in charge of economic and fiscal policy, who played a key role in elaborating Abenomics during Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's first administration. He is also an adjunct professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at National University of Singapore; Chairman of Japan Strategic Initiative and Asia fellow at the Milken Institute on Kishida’s foreign policy outlook.

We discussed Japan’s future US- China policy and Korean Peninsula affairs under Kishida administration. Political expert, Takao Toshikawa, editor of the political newsletter Tokyo Inside line labelled Kishida as Mr status quo, I asked Prof. Kotaro whether he agrees on this label. At the end of our talk, we conversed on the outlook of ASEAN-Japan relationships. Enjoy the episode!

China has submitted a formal letter of application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership or CPTPP. I asked Dr. Deborah Elms, the Founder and Executive Director of the Asian Trade Centre and Vice Chair of the Asia Business Trade Association (ABTA) on the possibility of current members of the CPTPP agree to allow China joining the group. I also discussed with her about the most rationale objectives behind China’s application to join the CPTPP from Beijing’s perspective and whether it would trigger the U.S. under Biden’s presidency to take a deeper look at CPTPP again. Enjoy the talk!

I spoke to Mutti Anggitta, a security analyst and nuclear specialist at the Laboratorium Indonesia 2045 on AUKUS and Indonesia’s position towards the security pact. We explored from the strategic views on Indonesia’s readiness to this possible security risk and the ideal stance Indonesia must have in the middle of intensifying China-Western allies military tension. Enjoy the conversation!

In this episode, I spoke to Natalie Sambhi, the Founder and Executive Director of Verve Research, and Non-Resident Fellow at Brookings. We talked about the most concerning aspects of the AUKUS as a security deal to Jakarta and the possible implication of AUKUS such as a more intense “strategic insecurity” with countries in the region, particularly with China.

Are we going to see China retaliate with the improvements of its military capability? Will AUKUS bother Canberra’s desire to expand its regional outreach, particularly in elevating its defence engagement and relationships with regional partners including ASEAN countries? I explore those questions with her. Check it out!

In this episode, I was speaking with Dr. Barbara Yoxon, Lecturer in International Politics at the Lancaster University on the recent AUKUS security alliance between the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. what are the key objectives of this AUKUS? And why does the pact provides the nuclear-powered submarines to Australia?Will it create more intense“security dilemma”, particularly with China?What would be the implications of AUKUS at the end geopolitically? I explored those questions with her. Check it out!