Indonesia and China: The Bumpy Path to a Wary Partnership

On July 9, 2014, Joko Widodo, a Central Java furniture exporter, was elected Indonesia’s seventh president. He was inaugurated on October 19, ending the 10-year presidency of term-limited Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY). Usually referred to by his nickname Jokowi, Widodo came to office representing a social and cultural discontinuity in Indonesian politics. Unlike his predecessors, Jokowi has no elite roots in Indonesia’s predemocracy political history. He was elected mayor of Solo, his hometown, and then became the hugely popular elected governor of Jakarta. In the presidential election, he defeated a former general and son-in-law of deposed President Suharto. Jokowi’s career has been one in which neither interest nor experience in international relations or foreign policy has played any role. This raised the question of the possible impact that his lack of preparedness might have for decision making in critical areas of foreign policy. Among the most pressing are the issues raised by China’s rise in Southeast Asia…